Treasury

Theatres: Tax Allowances

Alison Thewliss: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of allowing half of all marketing spend to be included in the qualifying costs of Theatre Tax Relief.

Nigel Huddleston: The government recognises the value of the UK’s world-leading theatre sector. At Spring Budget 2023, the Government went further to support theatres by extending the 45 per cent (for non-touring productions) and 50 per cent (for touring productions) rates of TTR for a further 2 years. Whilst the Government keeps all tax reliefs under review, the Government is not planning to expand the scope of Theatre Tax Relief (TTR) to include 50 per cent of marketing spend. The objective of theatre tax relief is to support and incentivise production and that is why eligible expenditure is focussed on the costs that are incurred producing and closing the theatrical production, rather than marketing.

Housing: Repairs and Maintenance

Simon Jupp: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of reducing VAT charged on property repairs required as a result of damage caused by flooding.

Nigel Huddleston: VAT is a broad-based tax on consumption and the twenty per cent standard rate applies to most goods and services. Whilst there are exceptions to the standard rate, these have always been limited by both legal and fiscal considerations. Introducing new reliefs would impose additional pressure on the public finances to which VAT makes a significant contribution. VAT is the UK’s third largest tax and is forecast to raise £161 billion in 2023/24, helping to fund key spending priorities, such as the NHS, education and defence. Plus, there is no guarantee that a VAT relief would be passed on to consumers in the form of lower prices. That is why the government has instead put in place a comprehensive framework to support flood recovery, which is used in exceptional circumstances to support councils and communities following severe flooding. Whilst the government keeps all taxes under review, there are no current plans to reduce VAT charged on property repairs required as a result of damage caused by flooding.

Theatres: Tax Allowances

Alison Thewliss: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of permanently extending the higher rate of Theatre Tax Relief.

Nigel Huddleston: The government recognises the value of the UK’s world-leading theatre sector. That is why at Spring Budget 2023, the government went further to support theatres by announcing a 2-year extension to the current 45% (for non-touring productions) and 50% (for touring productions) rates of theatre tax relief (TTR). These rates will now taper to 30%/35% on 1 April 2025 and return to 20%/25% on 1 April 2026. The government is not currently considering making the 45%/50% rates of TTR permanent, however, the government keeps the tax system under review.

Business Rates: Rural Areas

Sir John Hayes: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to help small businesses in rural areas with increases in business rates.

Nigel Huddleston: Small Business Rate Relief (SBRR) is available to businesses with a single property below a set rateable value. Eligible properties under £12,000 will receive 100 per cent relief, which means around a third of businesses in England (713,000) pay no business rates at all. There is also tapered support available to properties valued up to £15,000. This is a tax cut worth over £2.1 billion per year to support the smallest businesses. Rural Rates Relief (RRR) is also available to businesses in eligible rural areas. Eligibility requirements can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/apply-for-business-rate-relief/rural-rate-relief. At Autumn Statement 2022, the Government announced a package of changes and tax cuts worth £13.6 billion over the next five years, including a freeze to the business rates multiplier for 2023-24, a tax cut worth £9.3 billion over the next 5 years, meaning all bills are 6% lower than without the freeze.

Apprentices: Taxation

Tom Hunt: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a reduced apprenticeship levy contribution for companies which take on apprentices with SEND.

Laura Trott: The government keeps all taxes under review.

Alcoholic Drinks: Excise Duties

Marsha De Cordova: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has plans to make an assessment of the potential merits of further measures to support (a) SME, (b) independent and (c) other wine and spirits businesses with high-street presence in the context of (i) the increase in alcohol duty brought in in August 2023 and (ii) the end of business rates relief at the end of the 2023-24 financial year.

Gareth Davies: The Government has undertaken the biggest reform of alcohol duties for over 140 years and has introduced a new, simplified alcohol duty system based on the common-sense principle of taxing alcohol by strength. The Government is closely monitoring the impact of the reforms and will evaluate the impact of the new rates and structures three years after the changes took effect on 1 August 2023. This will allow time to understand the impacts on the alcohol market, and for HMRC to gather useful and accurate data with which to evaluate the effects of the reform. As with all taxes, the Government keeps the alcohol duty system under review during its yearly Budget process. At Autumn Statement 2022 the Government announced an increased 75% relief for retail, hospitality and leisure properties, up to a cash cap of £110,000 per business for 2023-24. This is a tax cut worth over £2 billion for around 230,000 RHL businesses, to support the high street and protect small shops and pubs. Decisions on future business rates support will be made in due course.

Companies: Sanctions

Damien Moore: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make it his policy to increase sanctions on companies that approve credit applications for people subject to Court of Protection Orders.

Bim Afolami: Protecting vulnerable consumers is a key priority for the Government and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which regulates the consumer credit market. Financial institutions are entitled to provide credit to individuals who have a Court of Protection Order. Approval of these applications are individualised in line with the principles of the Mental Capacity Act and FCA guidance which can found at: https://www.handbook.fca.org.uk/handbook/CONC/2/10.html. The guidance makes clear that firms should take reasonable steps to ensure that they have suitable business practices and procedures in place for the fair treatment of customers who they understand, or reasonably suspect, have or may have a mental capacity limitation. This includes customers who are subject to Court of Protection Orders.The FCA proactively monitors the market to ensure firms follow its rules and it has various methods to punish breaches. There is no limit on the fines it can levy and it can require firms to compensate consumers. In addition, consumers have recourse to the Financial Ombudsman Service for independent arbitration if they believe their formal complaint to a firm has not been dealt with satisfactorily.

Alcoholic Drinks: Excise Duties

Marsha De Cordova: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has met representatives of (a) SME and (b) independent wine businesses since the changes to alcohol duty introduced in August 2023.

Gareth Davies: Treasury ministers have meetings with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery. Details of ministerial meetings with external organisations on departmental business are published on a quarterly basis and are available at the link below:https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmt-ministers-meetings-hospitality-gifts-and-overseas-travel

Mileage Allowances

Pete Wishart: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to (a) review the Approved Mileage Allowance Payment and (b) take fiscal steps to support employees and volunteers using their own vehicles in (i) rural and (ii) other areas.

Gareth Davies: Approved Mileage Allowance Payments (AMAPs) are used by employers to reimburse an employee’s expenses for business mileage in their private vehicle, including employees in rural areas. These rates are also used by self-employed drivers to claim tax relief on business mileage (simplified motoring expenses). The AMAP rates are not mandatory, and employers can choose to pay more or less than the AMAP rate. It is therefore ultimately up to employers to determine the rate at which they reimburse their employees. The AMAP rate also applies to volunteers, and organisations using volunteers also do not need to use the AMAP rate, and can choose to pay more or less than the AMAP rate. In considering changes to the AMAP/simplified motoring expenses rates, the Government has to balance support for individuals with the responsible management of public finances, which fund our essential public services. However, the Government recognises that transport is a major cost for individuals and families. At Spring Statement 2022 the Government announced a temporary 12-month cut to duty on petrol and diesel of 5p per litre. In order to continue supporting all motorists, it will extend the 5p fuel duty cut, which is worth £100 to the average driver over the next year. Like all taxes and allowances, the Government keeps the AMAP rate underreview, and any changes will be announced at a future fiscal event.

Motor Vehicles: Insurance

Drew Hendry: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has had discussions with the Competition and Markets Authority on helping ensure that rises in car insurance premiums do not disproportionately impact individuals with protected characteristics.

Bim Afolami: Treasury ministers and officials have regular engagement with independent regulators, including the Competition and Markets Authority, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC). As was the case with previous administrations, it is not the Government’s practice to provide details of all such meetings. Insurers make commercial decisions about the terms on which they will offer cover following an assessment of the relevant risks. However, insurers must comply with relevant legislation and regulatory rules when pricing their products. Under the Equality Act 2010 insurers are, with limited exceptions, prohibited from discriminating against consumers with protected characteristics. Enforcement powers under the Equality Act 2010 are the sole reserve of the EHRC. However, it is likely that a breach of the Equality Act will also be a breach of the FCA’s rules. The FCA have also introduced new Consumer Duty rules, from 31 July 2023, to ensure firms are providing products that offer fair value (i.e. that the price a consumer pays for a product or service is reasonable compared to the overall benefits they can expect to receive). The FCA can and does act in appropriate cases where firms are breaching its rules.

Shareholders

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has made an assessment of the implications for his policies of the recommendations on shareholder rights in the interim report of the Digitisation Taskforce, published on 11 July 2023.

Bim Afolami: The Digitisation Taskforce, chaired by Sir Douglas Flint, was launched by the Chancellor on 19 July 2022 to drive forward the modernisation of the UK’s shareholding framework. The Taskforce published its interim report in July 2023, setting out a number of potential recommendations and questions for industry to consider. Sir Douglas is engaging industry ahead of delivering the final report to Government. Once the final report is produced, the Government will make an assessment of the recommendations and set out its plans for actions it intends to take in response.

Mortgages: Arrears

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what information his Department holds on the number of people who are in arrears on their residential mortgages.

Bim Afolami: There is a wide variety of data and statistics about the mortgage market in the UK available from the Bank of England (https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/statistics), the Financial Conduct Authority (https://www.fca.org.uk/data) and UK Finance (https://www.ukfinance.org.uk/data-and-research/data). These sources indicate that the level of arrears in residential mortgages remain low. In June, the Chancellor working with lenders representing over 90% of the market agreed to our new Mortgage Charter, which includes new flexibilities to help customers manage their repayments.

Unpaid Taxes

Sarah Olney: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of the closure of the Taxpayer Protection Taskforce on trends in the level of uncollected tax.

Nigel Huddleston: At Budget 2021, the government announced an investment of over £100 million in the Taxpayer Protection Taskforce to combat error and fraud in the COVID-19 financial support schemes administered by HMRC. This investment enabled HMRC to deploy compliance staff to the Taxpayer Protection Taskforce for the lifetime of the taskforce, and to backfill for those staff to prevent an opportunity cost to the collection of tax revenues.   As planned, HMRC began to transition the activity and the staff working on the taskforce into business-as-usual tax compliance activity from March 2023.Our compliance activity on the COVID-19 support schemes up to end September 2023 has protected over £1.6 billion worth of grants. This is made up of £430 million prevented from being paid out and over £1.2 billion recovered from overpayments.   We remain committed to tackling error and fraud in the COVID-19 support schemes where this is the most cost-effective use of resources.

Bicycles: VAT

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of having zero VAT on children's bicycles.

Nigel Huddleston: VAT is a broad-based tax on consumption and the twenty per cent standard rate applies to most goods and services. Whilst there are exceptions to the standard rate, these have always been limited by both legal and fiscal considerations. Zero rating children’s bicycles for VAT purposes would impose additional pressure on the public finances to which VAT makes a significant contribution. VAT is the UK’s third largest tax and is forecast to raise £161 billion in 2023/24, helping to fund key spending priorities. Any reduction in tax paid is a reduction in the money available to support important public services, including the NHS, education and defence. It is also not guaranteed that a reduction in VAT would lead to reduced prices for consumers. Given this, the government has no plans to remove VAT on children’s bicycles. Nevertheless, the government keeps all taxes under review.

Taxation: Rebates

Martyn Day: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has plans to tackle third party websites which charge excessive fees for helping taxpayers reclaim tax rebates.

Nigel Huddleston: The government is committed to maintaining trust in the tax system and protecting customers. However, the government is aware that some taxpayers face issues and feel misled when using companies that specialise in claiming tax refunds from HMRC. This service is provided at a cost (often on a no-win, no fee commission basis) unlike claiming directly from HMRC which is free of charge. HMRC consulted last year on measures to ensure individual taxpayers get the information they need to make informed decisions about whether to use a repayment agent - “Raising standards in tax advice: Protecting customers claiming tax repayments”. The ‘Summary of Responses and Next Steps’ was published on 11 January 2023 which included actions to improve transparency requirements in the HMRC Standard for Agents and undertaking further work to strengthen the evidence that a claim has been made with a customer’s consent. HMRC encourages customers to carefully read the repayment agent’s terms and conditions to understand what they are signing up to, the fees they will pay, and the legal agreement they are signing.

Revenue And Customs: Staff

Sarah Olney: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many staff work on customer compliance in (a) total and (b) each team in HMRC.

Nigel Huddleston: The average full-time equivalents (FTE) in HMRC currently working on customer compliance activity in 2023/24 is approximately 17,300. Within Customer Compliance Group staff are deployed across a wide range of compliance risks. Internally, these are usually grouped by customer segment, tax head or specific tax risk being worked. HMRC publishes information on the amounts spent on compliance by customer segment in our annual report and accounts at Tax by different customer groups – 2022 to 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). The information for 2023/24 will be available in 2024. HMRC does not release detailed breakdowns of this information for operational reasons.

Tax Evasion

Sarah Olney: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what was the cost to the public purse of tax compliance cases in each of the last five financial years.

Nigel Huddleston: HMRC does not track the value directly spent on tax compliance cases.

Bank Services: Charities

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of adequacy of the level of access to banking services for small charities in the South East.

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that small charities have access to banking services that allow the use of dual signatories.

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to help improve access to in-person banking services for small charities in the South East.

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department is taking steps to help support small charities to open bank accounts.

Bim Afolami: The government recognises the importance of access to banking services for charities and community organisations. Last year, the Treasury hosted a roundtable event, bringing together lenders and representatives from bodies representing these organisations to discuss the issues these groups are facing. As a result of this roundtable, UK Finance, the banking and finance industry group, is now working with banks and sector representatives to identify any changes banks can make to simplify processes like changing signatories on accounts, and to produce guidance aimed at helping charities and community groups access and understand banking. The government has legislated through the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 to establish a new legislative framework to protect access to cash for individuals and businesses, including small charities. The government believes that all customers, wherever they live, should have appropriate access to banking and cash services. Customers can access their banking through a variety of channels, such as online, via mobile apps or over the telephone. Customers can also access their banking in-person by going to a branch, a shared banking hub or the Post Office, which allows 99% of personal banking and 95% of business banking customers to deposit cheques, check their balance and withdraw and deposit cash at 11,500 Post Office branches in the UK.

Prices: Christmas

Sarah Olney: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an estimate of the impact of inflation on the average price of a (a) turkey, (b) Christmas pudding, (c) bottle of brandy and (d) Christmas cracker in each of the last three years.

Bim Afolami: The Office for National Statistics are responsible for collecting and publishing official statistics including inflation. Where data for these items are collected they can be found online here: https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices/datasets/consumerpriceinflation or alternatively in ONS’s shopping price comparison tool, which can be found online here: https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices/articles/shoppingpricescomparisontool/2023-05-03.

Off-payroll Working

Jonathan Gullis: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will male an assessment of the potential merits of taking steps to abolish the changes to the IR35 off-payroll working rules introduced in April 2021.

Nigel Huddleston: Off-payroll working reform was introduced for the public sector in 2017 and to medium and large sized businesses in the private and voluntary sectors in 2021. The reforms did not change the underlying rules but shifted responsibility for determining the employment status for tax purposes of someone working through their own intermediary from the intermediary to the client organisation engaging them. The reforms tackle non-compliance with the existing off-payroll working rules and have been successful in doing so: more people who are working like employees are paying taxes like employees, improving fairness in the tax system. Keeping the 2017 and 2021 reforms in place protects around £2 billion a year of Government revenue, and the Government has no plans to repeal them. The Government continues to monitor the impacts of the reforms and published HMRC-commissioned, and its own analysis in December 2022. The Government has already committed to updating the internal analysis with the latest data in due course. The Government has already committed to updating the internal analysis with the latest data in due course.

Defibrillators: VAT Exemptions

Peter Dowd: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how his Department estimates the potential cost to the public purse of removing VAT on (a) defibrillators and (b) other products.

Nigel Huddleston: The cost of relieving VAT on defibrillators is uncertain owing to the lack of data on purchases of defibrillators and associated apparatus, and on purchasers who are able to reclaim the VAT on these purchases. Businesses are not required to provide information at a product level in their VAT returns, as this would impose an excessive administrative burden; HMRC does not therefore hold this data. All taxes are kept under review; any policy measure would be costed in the usual way.

Ministry of Justice

Prisons

Sir John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an estimate of what the prison population will be in (a) 2030 and (b) 2040.

Edward Argar: The Ministry of Justice does not project the size of the prison population to 2030 and 2040.Prison population projections for 2022-2027 were published on 23 February 2023: Prison_Population_Projections_2022_to_2027.pdf (publishing.service.gov.uk).Updated five-year prison population projections (2023 to 2028) are due to be released February 2024.

Sexual Offences: Custodial Treatment

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to ensure that serious sexual offenders serve the whole of their custodial sentence.

Gareth Bacon: The Sentencing Bill, introduced on 14 November, will ensure that rapists and serious sexual offenders serve their full custodial term in prison. This expands on the current situation, whereby these offenders, when sentenced to four years’ imprisonment or more, serve two thirds of their sentence in custody, following changes made by this Government. This is in direct contrast to the last Labour Government who, in the Criminal Justice Act 2003, legislated so all prisoners serving a standard determinate sentence – including rapists and violent criminals – were automatically released from prison at the halfway point of the sentence.

Community Orders

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make a comparative assessment of the effectiveness of (a) short custodial sentences and (b) sentences served in the community.

Gareth Bacon: There is persuasive evidence that community orders and suspended sentence orders are more effective than sentences of immediate custody in reducing reoffending, in certain circumstances.The department’s latest published reoffending statistics (Proven reoffending statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).) show that 55% of those released from prison after serving a custodial sentence of less than twelve months were convicted for a proven offence in the following 12 months. This compares to 32% of those serving a court order (community sentence or suspended sentence order) or 24% of those serving a suspended sentence with requirements served in the community.

Crimes of Violence: Sentencing

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to increase sentences for violent offenders.

Gareth Bacon: Since 2010, average sentence lengths have risen by 56% and this Government have introduced tougher punishments for the worst offenders – including extending whole-life orders to premeditated child murders. This Government increased the point at which those convicted of rape and serving a standard determinate sentence (SDS) of 7 years or more should be released. This was increased from 50% of the sentence to two-thirds. In the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, we went further by applying a two-thirds release point to all serious sexual offenders (including rapists) sentenced to an SDS of 4 years or more.This is in direct contrast to the last Labour Government who, in the Criminal Justice Act 2003, legislated so all prisoners serving a standard determinate sentence – including rapists and violent criminals – were automatically released from prison at the halfway point of the sentence.But now we are going further still and the recently introduced Sentencing Bill will ensure that rapists and serious sexual offenders serve their full custodial term in prison.We will also introduce in the Sentencing Bill, a new duty for the court to impose a whole life order for cases of murder which are currently normally subject to a whole life order starting point, unless the court is of the opinion that there are exceptional circumstances. In addition, murders which involve sexual or sadistic conduct will be added to the types of murder that will become subject to the new duty to impose a whole life order (unless there are exceptional circumstances). These murders currently have a 30-year starting point but will, in future, be likely to attract a whole life order.

Question

Andy Carter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to improve the court estate.

Mike Freer: The condition of the court estate matters – for the standing of the justice system in our society, but also for all court users, including the victims and witnesses who rely on the courts to see justice done. We have significantly increased the budget to maintain the court and tribunal estate. The £220m two-year settlement is already enabling major estates projects to be planned with certainty and efficiency.

Probate: Applications

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many applications for probate grants were received by his Department in September (a) 2021, (b) 2022 and (c) 2023.

Mike Freer: The number applications for probate received in September (a) 2021, (b) 2022 and (c) 2023 are as follows:(a) 21,742(b) 23,480(c) 22,158

Courts: Repairs and Maintenance

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to improve the condition of the court estate.

Mike Freer: We will be investing £220m in the two years to March 2025 to improve the overall quality and enhance the resilience of the court and tribunal estate and enable us to plan major estates projects with certainty.We are working to ensure that those buildings most in need of investment get it, and this investment is a step forward in improving the quality of the court estate.Additionally, work is underway to create new state-of-the-art court buildings in central London and Blackpool.

Legal Aid Scheme

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he has made recent representations to the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the level of legal aid funding.

Mike Freer: The Department works closely with HM Treasury to support the justice system, and ministers and officials have regular discussions with Treasury colleagues on a range of issues including legal aid. We make representations for funding in the usual way and continue to look at how to use departmental funding in a fiscally responsible way.Last year we spent just under £2 billion on legal aid – approximately £1bn on civil and just over £900m on criminal.In response to the Criminal Legal Aid Independent Review (CLAIR) we introduced a 15% uplift across most fee schemes, increasing expenditure by up to £141 million a year and taking expected annual criminal legal aid spend to £1.2 billion per year.On 25 May 2023 we published our response to the consultation on the Means Test Review. When implemented, we estimate that spending on legal aid will rise by circa £25 million.We are also investing a further £13m into family legal aid per year, and a further £10m per year into housing legal aid through the new Housing Loss Prevention Advice Service, which launched on 01 August.

Special Educational Needs: Gloucestershire

Richard Graham: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many appeals of SEND decisions made by people from Gloucestershire were heard at tribunals in each of the last five years; and how many and what proportion of those cases were won by parents.

Mike Freer: Information about appeals to the First-tier Tribunal for Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) is published at: www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics.The table below sets out the number of appeals to SEND against decisions made by the Local Authority in Gloucestershire for the period 2018 to 2023; and the percentage of appeals which were found in favour of the appellant (which includes parents and young people), for the years 2020 – 2022. Academic yearTotal appeals registeredTotal appeals heardTotal of successful appealsPercentage of successful appeals201840---201955---202027121192%202134282382%2022131848399% Outcome data on appeals before 2020 are not available due to the Records Retention and Disposal Schedule (RRDS) of the Health, Education and Social Care Chamber of HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) (of which SEND is part) requiring that data are deleted three years after the conclusion of the appeal. The full RRDS can be found at https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/62b47cfcd3bf7f0af821efef/health-education-social-care-chamber-rrds.pdf.Decisions made by Local Authorities about the special educational needs of young people can be overturned on appeal for a variety of reasons. For instance, further evidence, including evidence in the form of oral testimony, may be provided at the hearing. HMCTS cannot comment on decisions made by independent tribunal judiciary.

Prison Sentences

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that offenders attend their sentencing hearing.

Gareth Bacon: Our Criminal Justice Bill will give judges new powers to order offenders to attend their sentencing hearings and to punish those who refuse to do so without reasonable excuse. An offender in breach of this order will face up to a further 24 months’ prison time. The measure will apply to all offenders convicted of an offence which carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. We are also making it clear – in law – that force can be used to make sure offenders attend their sentencing hearings where reasonable and proportionate.

Prisons: Repairs and Maintenance

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent estimate he has made of the maintenance backlog across the public-sector prison estate.

Edward Argar: We are continuing to invest in the prison estate to ensure that prisons remain safe and secure.In addition, we are currently undertaking a programme of surveys across the public sector prison estate and a sample of the privately managed prisons which will provide a much more detailed understanding of the condition of the fabric and critical infrastructure in prisons including the backlog of maintenance works.

Lie Detectors

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to enable the use of polygraph tests by probation officers in the management of serious offenders.

Edward Argar: The Probation Service has used polygraph testing for high risk sex offenders since 2014 and for terrorist offenders since 2021. In July 2021, the Ministry of Justice commenced a three-year pilot of polygraph testing with high risk domestic abuse perpetrators.We will close three operational gaps in the use of polygraph through the Criminal Justice Bill.Currently, certain offenders convicted of murder cannot be polygraph tested on licence even if they have also been convicted of a serious sexual offence, where the sentence for the sexual offence has expired before they are released on licence. The Bill will permit polygraph testing with those offenders convicted of murder who are assessed as posing a risk of sexual offending on release.It will also make sure that an offender sentenced concurrently for a sexual and a non-sexual offence, where the sexual offence expires before or during the licence period of the non-sexual offence, can be polygraph tested throughout their entire licence period.Finally, the Bill also extends polygraph testing to a cohort of serious offenders who committed a non-terrorism offence, such as conspiracy to murder, as an act of terrorism or for the purposes of terrorism but did so before the relevant legislation came into force, which enables the Court at the point of sentencing to make a formal ‘terrorist connection’ determination.

Probation Service: Recruitment

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to Annex 1.12 of the model service agreements for contracts with Red Snapper and Service Care Solutions, dated 5 May 2022, and with reference to the Answers of 25 October 2023 to Question 203245 on Probation Service: Red Snapper Recruitment and 26 October 2023 to Question 203246 on Probation Service: Service Care Solutions, for what reason there was an increase in the number of agency staff recruited to temporary probation service officer roles between 1 June 2022 and 18 October 2023, compared to the number recruited in 2021-22.

Edward Argar: The information requested is not readily available as it requires the validation of an inordinate amount of data which would therefore incur disproportionate cost.

Probation Service: Recruitment

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to Annex 1.12 of the model service agreements for contracts with Red Snapper and Service Care Solutions, dated 5 May 2022, and with reference to the Answers of 25 October 2023 to Question 203245 on Probation Service: Red Snapper Recruitment and 26 October 2023 to Question 203246 on Probation Service: Service Care Solutions, for what reason there was a decline in the number of agency staff recruited to temporary probation officer roles between 1 June 2022 and 18 October 2023, compared to the number recruited in 2021-22.

Edward Argar: The information requested is not readily available as it requires the validation of an inordinate amount of data which would therefore incur disproportionate cost.

National Tactical Response Group

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many officers were serving in the National Tactical Response Group at the end of the each year since 2018.

Edward Argar: The National Tactical Response Group (NTRG) is a specialist resource that provides intervention options to the Silver and Gold commanders. NTRG is a highly trained team that provides expertise in technical interventions that would carry higher risk of failure or injury, and which require skills and equipment limited only to NTRG staff.The table below shows how may officers were serving in NTRG at the end of each year since 2018.YearServing NTRG Officers201846201952202047202149202254202355 to end of October 2023

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

British Nationals Abroad: Hostage Taking

Neil Coyle: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of creating a Minister for hostage affairs to help support families of (a) British and (b) dual nationals.

David Rutley: As Minister for consular policy I review all complex cases, including hostage and arbitrary detention for diplomatic leverage cases, with consular officials on a regular basis. When necessary, decisions on individual cases are made by the relevant geographical Minister who understands the region and has a relationship with their counterpart. They are supported in this by our Ambassadors and senior officials who hold the necessary geographic and thematic expertise alongside our consular team. At all times the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs holds ultimate responsibility. We also work closely with other Departments and agencies who also have relevant expertise.

Narges Mohammadi

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the imprisonment of Narges Mohammadi in Iran.

David Rutley: The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office continues to closely monitor the case of Narges Mohammadi. We raise human rights issues at all appropriate opportunities bilaterally with Iran and in international fora, and we continue to work with the international community to press Iran to improve its dire human rights record. The UK government has announced ten rounds of human rights sanctions since 2022, most recently on 15 September 2023. Our sanctions target political, security and prison officials involved in the repression of protests, torture and inhuman treatment of prisoners, unfair trial processes and the use of the death penalty. At the 78th Session of the UN General Assembly, the UK co-sponsored the Iran Human Rights Resolution which set out our serious concerns about Iran's continued human rights abuses. Following their meeting in Tokyo earlier this month, G7 foreign ministers issued a joint statement expressing deep concern over the deteriorating human rights situation in Iran.

Jagtar Singh Johal

Martyn Day: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make it his policy to call for the release of Jagtar Singh Johal.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: The UK Government is committed to seeing Mr Johal's case resolved as soon as possible. We have raised our concerns about Mr Johal's case, including his allegations of torture, with the Government of India on over 110 occasions and will continue to do so. The Prime Minister raised Mr Johal's case in talks with India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 9 September. Mr Johal's case was raised most recently on 13 November by Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon, Minister of State for South Asia, with the Indian External Affairs Minister, Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar. Consular staff visit Mr Johal regularly to check on his welfare and did so most recently on 26 October.

Afghanistan: Development Aid

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the oral evidence by Fawzia Koofi to the Foreign Affairs Committee on 17 October 2023, Q3, HC 1888 of Session 2022-23, how much UK aid has been allocated to women-led organisations based in Afghanistan in each of the last two financial years for which information is available; and if he will take steps to ensure that the procedures for applying for UK aid are simplified for women-led organisations based in Afghanistan.

Leo Docherty: Afghanistan is one of FCDO's largest bilateral aid programmes this financial year, with a planned £100 million budget. Since April 2021, the UK has disbursed over £600 million in aid for Afghanistan. We remain committed to ensuring that at least 50 per cent of people reached are women and girls. We achieved this in 2021-2022 and are on track to do so in 2022-2023. Through the Afghanistan Resilience Trust Fund, our support contributes to a $20 million project to support civil society and NGOs with a focus on women-led organisations. FCDO officials regularly engage with Afghan women and women's groups to ensure that we are aligned in the design and delivery of our programmes.

Afghanistan: Development Aid

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the oral evidence by Fawzia Koofi to the Foreign Affairs Committee on 17 October 2023, Q3, HC 1888 of Session 2022-23, what monitoring mechanisms are in place to ensure that UK aid (a) is prevented from benefitting the Taliban and (b) reaches the people for whom it is intended.

Leo Docherty: UK funding is provided directly to implementing partners: UN organisations, the Red Cross, and national and international non-governmental organisations. We do not provide any aid to or through the Taliban. UK aid is subject to strict monitoring and verification to ensure it reaches intended beneficiaries. Our partners are experienced in delivering in difficult circumstances and we work closely together to mitigate risks. We remain committed to ensuring that at least 50 per cent of people reached with UK aid in Afghanistan are women and girls. We achieved this in 2021-2022 and are on track to do so in 2022-2023.

Vietnam: Human Rights

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what discussions he has had with his Vietnamese counterparts on (a) upholding the human rights of climate activists and (b) the conditions in which Hoang Thi Minh Hong is being held; and whether UK funding for the Vietnam Just Energy Transition Partnership will be dependent on that country making a commitment to uphold the human rights of climate activists.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: The protection of activists and human rights defenders is a priority for our engagement with Vietnam and I [Minister Trevelyan] raised this issue at ministerial level during my recent visit in October. I also raised the case of Hoang Thi Minh Hong with my counterpart Vice Foreign Minister Le Thi Thu Hang at the UK-Vietnam Strategic Dialogue meeting in London on 12 June. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office made a public statement expressing concern at the arrest. We continue to monitor the situation in Vietnam and make the case for free and open partnership with NGOs, as an important part of the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP).

Hamas: Hostage Taking

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what diplomatic steps his Department is taking with international counterparts to encourage the safe release by Hamas of all hostages.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: The Government's thoughts are with those families who are facing unimaginable uncertainty and fear because of these despicable attacks and kidnappings and the safety of all British nationals continues to be our utmost priority. We are using all the tools available to us to secure the release of hostages and intensive international negotiations are ongoing. We continue to call for humanitarian pauses that allow enough time for hostages to be released and we will continue to work closely with our United Nations Security Council partners following the passing of the resolution on 15 November which delivered on the UK's priorities, including the release of hostages. The Prime Minister has also met several families of those believed to have been taken hostage, both in Israel and in the UK, and we are assisting the families of several individuals in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

Alaa Abdel Fattah

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the Answer of 14 December 2022 to Question 102801 on Alaa Abdel Fattah, when (a) he and (b) a Minister in his Department last made representations to their Egyptian counterpart on the release of Alaa Abd El-Fattah; and when he expects HM Embassy to secure a consular visit.

David Rutley: Ministers and officials continue to raise Mr El-Fattah's case at the highest levels with the Egyptian Government and have been consistently clear in our calls for his release, whilst continuing to press the need for urgent consular access. The Prime Minister raised Mr El-Fattah's case with President Sisi on 20 October. The former Foreign Secretary has raised Mr El-Fattah's case on several occasions with Egyptian Foreign Minister Shoukry, most recently on 18 September. The Minister of State for Development and Africa, Rt. Hon Andrew Mitchell, has also raised the case with the Egyptian authorities, most recently on 15 November during his visit to Cairo. The Minister of State for the Middle East, Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon, continues to raise his case with the Egyptian Ambassador and with Egyptian Foreign Minister Shoukry.

Gaza: Israel

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what diplomatic steps his Department is taking to help ensure Israel protects (a) civilians, (b) hospitals, (c) schools and (d) refugee camps in Gaza.

David Rutley: The UK is aware of reporting from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and other trusted sources that have documented a number of attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure. We are clear that Israel has the right to defend itself, but its military operations must be in accordance with International Humanitarian Law. We have used public and private diplomatic channels as well as multilateral fora to underline this. On 10 November in the UN Security Council, the UK stressed that all parties to the conflict must abide by International Humanitarian Law, including by protecting civilians, civilian infrastructure and hospitals. The UK continues to press on Israeli counterparts the importance of taking all possible measures to protect civilians, including via the Prime Minister, the former Foreign Secretary and the Minister of State for the Middle East.

Gaza: Israel

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make representations to his Israeli counterpart on ending the siege conditions on Gaza.

David Rutley: As of 14 November, the United Nations assesses that 2.3 million people in Gaza need access to safe drinking water and food. Current supplies are running out, one third of hospitals have been forced to shut down, and around 1.6 million people are displaced. The UK Government has already announced £30 million in humanitarian funding and has sent more than 51 tonnes of emergency relief for civilians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. This funding will support the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in responding to critical food, water, health, shelter and security needs in Gaza. FCDO Ministers and officials are working regularly and closely with our Israeli counterparts to ensure the delivery of humanitarian aid to the people in Gaza, and to advocate for adherence to International Humanitarian Law, for access routes to be established into Gaza, for sufficient levels of humanitarian assistance to flow into Gaza and for humanitarian pauses to allow aid to be safely distributed within Gaza.

Gaza: Palestinians

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what diplomatic steps his Department is taking to help ensure guarantees that Palestinians forced to flee from Gaza will not be permanently displaced.

David Rutley: The UK's priority right now is alleviating the humanitarian situation given UN assessments that 2.3 million people in Gaza need access to food and water. However, we will continue to engage closely with our partners across the region, internationally, and with the UN on critical issues relating to the safety of Palestinians and on the future of Gaza. Our longstanding position on the Middle East Peace Process is clear: we support a negotiated settlement leading to a safe and secure Israel living alongside a viable and sovereign Palestinian state: any forced displacement is incompatible with this, and the Prime Minister and former Foreign Secretary have raised this with Israeli counterparts. The UK also agrees with the US that a long-term presence of Israeli security forces within Gaza would not be a good outcome for either Israelis or Palestinians and the Prime Minister has made clear that we must provide the serious, practical, and enduring support needed to bolster the Palestinian Authority.

Israel: Palestinians

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to re-energise efforts towards a two state solution in Israel and Palestine.

David Rutley: The UK position is clear, to prevent further conflict and terrorism, there must be a political solution to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict in the form of a two-state solution which provides justice and security for both Israelis and Palestinians. The Prime Minister has pledged to work together with our partners to redouble efforts towards this end, including by providing the serious, practical and enduring support needed to bolster the Palestinian Authority. Since Hamas' abhorrent terrorist attacks on 7 October, the Prime Minister, the former Foreign Secretary and the Minister of State for the Middle East have spoken to counterparts from more than 20 countries as part of extensive diplomatic engagement. The UK has also increased our military assets in the eastern Mediterranean to deter malign actors from increasing regional tension.

Gaza: Humanitarian Aid

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department is taking steps to increase aid to Gaza as a result of recent damage to (a) hospitals and (b) medical care facilities.

David Rutley: The UK is aware of reporting from the World Health Organization (WHO) and other trusted sources that have documented a number of attacks against civilian infrastructure, including health care facilities. The UK is clear that under International Humanitarian Law, civilian infrastructure including hospitals, medical facilities, shelters and water and sanitation systems must be protected in conflict. The UK is taking steps to increase humanitarian access and the flow of aid into Gaza. We are calling for humanitarian pauses to allow for unimpeded humanitarian access, and for Israel to open other border crossings to enable more humanitarian aid to reach civilians in need. Since 7 October, the UK Government has provided an additional £30 million in humanitarian funding and has sent more than 51 tonnes of emergency relief for civilians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. This funding will support the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in responding to critical food, water, health, shelter and security needs in Gaza.

Sudan: Armed Conflict

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what diplomatic steps his Department is taking to help (a) de-escalate tensions during the war in Sudan and (b) prevent violence spreading to (i) Ardamata in West Darfur and (ii) other new areas.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: The UK condemns the direct targeting of civilians and violence against specific groups in Sudan. We call upon both warring parties to uphold the commitments they made in the 11 May Jeddah Declaration of Commitment to Protect the Civilians of Sudan, and we urge the leadership of the Rapid Support Forces to control their fighters in Darfur and put an end to the atrocities being committed. The UK has called on both sides to de-escalate, refrain from ethnically-targeted violence, and focus on negotiating an end to this conflict. On 3 November, I tweeted condemning the violence and calling for protection of civilians, and on 9 November, the British Office Sudan released a further statement. We are pursuing all diplomatic avenues, including Ministerial engagement with regional counterparts, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and African Union (AU) to end the violence and de-escalate tensions in Sudan.

Japan: Prisoners

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, with reference to the news release of 14 November 2023 from Human Rights Watch, entitled Japan: Women Seriously Abused in Prisons, whether his Department has made representations to the Japanese Government over the treatment of women prisoners in that country.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: Ending gender-based violence is a priority for the FCDO and HMG. This is reflected in the 'UK's National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security' and as a key pillar in the new 'International Women and Girls Strategy'. The UK Government continues to raise, at appropriate levels, issues relating to Japan's prison system, including guidance on the treatment of prisoners. For individual cases, our consular teams work regularly with Japanese authorities to ensure appropriate treatment of British nationals, including on access to medical care.

Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Agreement: Marine Protected Areas

Derek Thomas: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what steps his Department plans to take to help establish new high-seas marine protected areas under the Biodiversity beyond National Jurisdiction Agreement.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: The UK was pleased to be among the first signatories to the Biodiversity beyond National Jurisdiction Agreement (BBNJ) Agreement when it opened for signature at the UN on 20 September 2023 and the Agreement was laid before Parliament for scrutiny on 16 October 2023. Work is in hand on the legislation and other measures needed to translate the provisions of the Agreement into UK law before we can ratify the Agreement. The UK will continue to be proactive in preparing for implementation and entry into force and will work with international partners and stakeholders to identify potential areas for High Seas Marine Protected Areas. The UK is also funding a project to develop a shortlist of potential area-based management tools that could be developed into future proposals once the BBNJ Agreement comes into force.

Taiwan: Diplomatic Service

Navendu Mishra: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, how many British diplomatic staff are based in Taiwan as of 15 November 2023.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: The UK has no diplomatic relations with Taiwan but a strong, unofficial relationship based on dynamic commercial, educational and cultural ties. The UK has no diplomatic staff in Taiwan. Approximately 50 staff work at the British Office in Taipei. This is a combination of staff from the UK and staff employed locally.

Sudan: Human Rights and International Law

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what diplomatic steps his Department is taking to encourage parties engaged in the Sudanese conflict to (a) comply with international law and (b) uphold the rights of women and girls.

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what diplomatic steps his Department is taking with the international community to hold parties in the Sudanese conflict accountable for any potential breaches of international law.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: The UK condemns all human rights violations, including the shocking incidents of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) against women and girls in Sudan. We continue to denounce CRSV in Sudan and have raised our concerns in the UN Human Rights Council and Security Council, and as part of a joint statement made by the International Alliance on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict. The UK has enhanced its atrocity risk monitoring, including monitoring of conflict-related sexual violence. The Human Rights Council adopted the UK-led 'Sudan Core Group' Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) in October, which will ensure that credible allegations of human rights violations and abuses, including CRSV, by all sides will be investigated impartially by experts in their field to support future accountability efforts. The HRC Presidency has begun the selection process for the three experts that will make up the FFM. The UK continue to support the Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights and other UN partners working with Sudan's Combating Violence Against Women Unit. We call on both sides to abide by their responsibilities under International Humanitarian Law to protect civilians.

Sudan: Internally Displaced People

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what steps his Department is taking to support people who have been displaced during the war in Sudan.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: The UK is monitoring the situation in Sudan closely, including the humanitarian and security impacts within Darfur and Sudan's neighbouring countries. We are working to ensure regional borders remain open and those displaced receive humanitarian assistance. In May, the Minister for Development and Africa announced that the UK would provide £21.7 million in humanitarian aid for people in need in Sudan. This followed an earlier announcement of £5 million to help meet the urgent needs of refugees and returnees in South Sudan and Chad. We reaffirmed this at the Sudan pledging event on 19 June. We continue to call on both sides of the conflict to abide by their responsibilities under International Law, protect civilians and to grant immediate and unimpeded humanitarian access, so that aid can be provided to those who have been displaced.

Gaza: Humanitarian Aid

Andrew Western: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will take steps to deploy specialised emergency relief and medical support teams to the Rafah crossing.

David Rutley: This is a fast-moving, complex and challenging situation. The UK has a team at the Rafah crossing to ensure we can provide the necessary medical, consular and administrative support needed. The FCDO have deployed humanitarian advisers to Cairo and Jerusalem and with the support of the Royal Air Force, have flown 51 tonnes of aid to Egypt for onward distribution to Gaza. This includes core relief items, including wound care packs, solar lanterns and water filtration devices, along with crucial enabling items such as forklift trucks. Additional Consular and Border Force staff are in country to support this work, as is an FCDO Rapid Deployment Team which arrived on 2 November and a team of British Red Cross psychological support experts. The former Foreign Secretary was in regular dialogue with his Egyptian counterpart regarding the safe exit of people from Gaza via the Rafah Crossing.

Occupied Palestinian Territories: Development Aid

Beth Winter: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the oral contribution of the Minister of State for International Development on 8 November 2023, what proportion of the additional £30 million of aid made available to the Occupied Palestinian Territories since the 7 October has entered Gaza as of 8 November 2023.

David Rutley: Three UK flights carrying a total of 51 tonnes of aid have landed in Egypt (on 25 October, 2 November and 3 November). The shipments have included lifesaving items such as wound care packs, water filters and solar powered lights as well as vital equipment including forklift trucks, belt conveyors and lighting towers, specifically requested by UK partners in the region to manage and deliver the aid more effectively. We are reliant on our partners, including the United Nations, to deliver UK aid and cannot currently provide an exact proportion. We are focused on enabling further humanitarian access through the Rafah crossing and other land routes, which is the most effective way of getting humanitarian support in at scale. We are also urging Israel to open other border crossings, such as Kerem Shalom, to enable more humanitarian aid to reach civilians in need. This is still not enough to meet the immediate needs of the population and we have consistently called for humanitarian pauses to allow aid in and hostages out and we welcome the announcement of four-hour pauses in north Gaza as a first step. We continue urgently to explore further diplomatic options and all practical routes, working with the UN and other partners in doing so and the UK continues to stress to all parties the need to protect border crossings to support safe humanitarian access and mitigate harm to civilians.

Blue Belt Programme: South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands

Marsha De Cordova: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to improve the Blue Belt Programme in the South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands.

David Rutley: The FCDO's Blue Belt Programme provides the UK Overseas Territories (OTs) with support, training and technical expertise to protect species and habitats within their waters. Each OT is unique, therefore the management and protective measures are Territory specific. The Blue Belt Programme is currently supporting the Government of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands to undertake the second 5-year review of its Marine Protected Area. The results of this review are due to be published in the new year.

Chad: Refugees

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether his Department is taking steps to support Chad with the arrival of refugees who have been displaced during the war in Sudan.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: The UK recognises the incredible strain that the wholly unjustified conflict in Sudan has placed on neighbouring countries. Since the outbreak of the conflict in May, Chad, the second poorest country in the world, has received over 500,000 refugees from Sudan- more than any other country in the region. At the outbreak of the conflict, we rapidly allocated £2.75 million to provide urgent shelter and food assistance to those fleeing violence and atrocities. We have since contributed a further £2.3 million to respond to increasing humanitarian needs. We are closely monitoring the situation in Eastern Chad, where the majority of refugees remain and are engaging with the Chadian government to better understand the impact of the conflict on refugees and local populations.

Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Agreement

Derek Thomas: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what steps the Government is taking to encourage other countries to ratify the Biodiversity beyond National Jurisdiction Agreement.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: The UK continues to be proactive in supporting other, particularly developing, countries, to implement and ratify the Biodiversity beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) Agreement. The UK has provided a significant contribution to the BBNJ Voluntary Trust Fund to enable participation by developing countries in UN discussions on preparatory work. The UK also continues to support the BBNJ Informal Dialogues, discussions that bring together participants from a wide range of countries online to discuss implementation. The UK also co-funded and organised a workshop for Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries to share best practice and support the implementation and ratification of the BBNJ Agreement in the Philippines on 15-17 November.

USA: Travel Restrictions

Jeff Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what representations his Department has made the US Administration on greater transparency for UK nationals on the reasons for Electronic System for Travel Authorization refusals.

David Rutley: We have no records of recent discussions with the US regarding greater transparency for UK nationals on the reasons for Electronic System for Travel Authorisation refusals.

Venezuela: Prisoners' Release

Andrew Lewer: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make representations to his Venezuelan counterpart on the release of (a) Guillermo Zarraga, (b) Emirlendris Benítez, (c) Gabriel Blanco, (d) Maria Auxiliadora Delgado, (e) Juan Carlos Marufo, (f) Dario Estrada and (g) Robert Franco.

David Rutley: The UK continues to call for the unconditional release of all those unjustly detained in Venezuela. We regularly raise the human rights situation in Venezuela at the UN Human Rights Council, and our Embassy in Caracas supports local non-governmental organisations working on human rights. We continue to encourage the implementation of the Venezuelan-led political agreement reached on 17 October in Barbados, including the release of political prisoners. The regime's practice of regularly targeting those engaged in human rights work stands in the way of democracy and a resolution to Venezuela's humanitarian crisis. Human rights violations must stop.

Development Aid: Disability

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Assistance Committee handbook for data reporters and users, The OECD-DAC policy marker on the inclusion and empowerment of persons with disabilities, published in December 2020, how many projects in receipt of Official Development Assistance (ODA) from his Department scored a 2 according to that policy marker; and how much ODA his Department disbursed to those projects in each calendar year since 2018.

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Assistance Committee handbook for data reporters and users, The OECD-DAC policy marker on the inclusion and empowerment of persons with disabilities, published in December 2020, how many projects in receipt of Official Development Assistance (ODA) from his Department scored a 1 according to that policy marker; and how much ODA his Department disbursed to those projects to spend on disability inclusion in each calendar year since 2018.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: The FCDO uses the OECD-DAC disability policy marker to indicate what level of disability-inclusive activities take place with each bilateral official development assistance (ODA) programme. A score of 1 indicates that at least some deliberate disability-inclusive activity is undertaken but disability inclusion is not the main purpose of the programme. A score of 2 indicates that addressing disability inclusion is the primary purpose of the programme.The table below gives ODA spending and project numbers for DFID and FCO (from 2018 to 2020) and FCDO (2021 onwards). The counts in columns (b) and (e) are for individual projects as reported to the OECD-DAC.Columns (a), (b) and (c) provides the amount of ODA disbursed and details of projects that scored 2 for the marker.Column (e) and (f) provides the details on the number of ODA projects that scored 1 for the marker.Column (d) provides the total amount of ODA disbursed in projects that scored 1 for the marker. No information is collected centrally on the amount of ODA that is disbursed solely for disability inclusive activities in projects scoring 1. Bilateral ODA projects1 with a DAC disability policy marker = 2Bilateral ODA projects1 with a DAC disability policy marker = 1DepartmentAmount of spending (£ millions) (a)Number of projects (b)Proportion of all bilateral projects (c)Amount of spending (£ millions)2 (d)Number of projects (e)Proportion of all bilateral projects (f)2018  Department for International Development6.7120.5%2,304,13987434.2%Foreign & Commonwealth Office0.00N/A00N/ATotal6.7120.4%2,304,13987426.9%2019  Department for International Development19.6200.8%2,751,16588135.9%Foreign & Commonwealth Office0.00N/A00N/ATotal19.6200.7%2,751,16588129.6%2020  Department for International Development22.4170.7%2,366,99183836.1%Foreign & Commonwealth Office0.00N/A42,438124N/ATotal22.4170.6%2,409,42996232.8%2021  Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office16.2150.5%1,527,05796732.2%20223  Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office19.0160.7%1,527,14683735.4%Project counts are based on the individual lines reported to OECD-DAC. In most cases, larger programmes will consist of a number of projects.This is the total amount of ODA disbursed in these projects. Not all of this funding would have been used for disability-inclusive activities.The figures for 2022 come from the Statistics on International Development (SID) data. All other years are based on OECD-DAC data. SID and OECD-DAC data report projects in a slightly different way. These figures may therefore change by a small amount once the 2022 OECD-DAC data are published.

Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Agreement

Derek Thomas: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what progress the Government has made on ratifying the Biodiversity beyond National Jurisdiction Agreement.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: The UK was pleased to be among the first signatories to the Biodiversity beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) Agreement when it opened for signature at the UN on 20 September 2023 and the Agreement was laid before Parliament for scrutiny on 16 October 2023. Work is in hand on the legislation and other measures needed to translate the detailed and complex provisions of the Agreement into UK law before we can ratify the Agreement, which will be taken forward when parliamentary time allows.

Sri Lanka: Ports

Stewart Malcolm McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of the potential use of the Colombo Port City project in Sri Lanka as a Chinese military outpost.

Stewart Malcolm McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the Colombo Port City project on geopolitical stability; and what steps he is taking to help mitigate that impact.

Stewart Malcolm McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has had recent discussions with his Chinese counterpart on the Colombo Port City project.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: The Sri Lankan Government and Chinese Governments jointly launched the Port City Colombo development project in 2014. China is an important source of trade, investment and support for many countries with infrastructure, including under a Belt and Road Initiative badge, helping fill the global infrastructure gap alongside other infrastructure initiatives. However, we recognise the potential risks that Chinese overseas investment can present, which is why we must be clear eyed. In our engagement, it is vital that we protect ourselves, our democracy and our economy at home. HMG's policy on China is set out in the Integrated Review Refresh.

Taiwan: World Health Assembly

Navendu Mishra: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether he plans to take diplomatic steps to support Taiwan’s application to join World Health Assembly.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: The UK believes that the people of Taiwan have a valuable contribution to make on issues of global concern. We therefore support Taiwanese meaningful participation in international organisations, as a member where statehood is not a prerequisite, and as an observer or guest where it is.

Sudan: Humanitarian Aid

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what recent steps his Department has taken to provide humanitarian support to Sudan.

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what recent discussions has he had with his (a) regional and (b) other international counterparts on the humanitarian situation in Sudan.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: The UK is working with international partners, in support of continued African efforts - in particular African Union and Intergovernmental Authority on Development - through the UN and through the Quad (Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, United States, UK) to bring an end to the hostilities in Sudan, ensure the protection of civilians, and secure safe and unfettered humanitarian access to and for the most at-need communities. In May, I announced that the UK would provide £21.7 million in humanitarian aid for people in need in Sudan, as well as £5 million to help meet the urgent needs of refugees and returnees fleeing the violence into South Sudan and Chad.

Development Aid: Genito-urinary Medicine

Mr Virendra Sharma: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, with reference to the Answer of 19 October 2023 to Question 202276 on Development Aid: Genito-urinary Medicine, if he will publish updated data on (a) (i) bilateral, (ii) multilateral and (iii) total spending on Sexual Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR) and (b) what that spending is as a proportion of Official Development Assistance in line with the methodology set out in the Donors Delivering for SRHR report 2023 in (A) 2019, (B) 2020 and (C) 2021.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: Based on FCDO "Statistics on International Development: final UK aid spend 2022", and the Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) spend methodology laid out in the Deutsche Stiftung Weltbevölkerung (DSW) led "Donor Delivering for SRHR" 2023 report:(i) The total amount of UK ODA SRHR funding disbursed by bilateral aid was £546 million in 2019, £401 million in 2020, £256 million in 2021.(ii) The total amount of UK ODA SRHR funding disbursed by multilateral aid was £202 million in 2019, £329 million in 2020, £279 million in 2021.(iii) The total amount of UK ODA SRHR funding disbursed was £748 million in 2019, £730 million in 2020 and £534 million in 2021.The total proportion of ODA spend in line with the methodology set out in the Donors Delivering for SRHR report 2023 is as follows:(a) 4.93% in 2019(b) 5.04% in 2020(c) 4.68% in 2021Please note these figures are not adjusted for inflation and thus are not directly comparable with the ones from the Donor Delivering for SRHR report.

Department for Work and Pensions

Access to Work Programme

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people are waiting for an Access to Work assessment.

Tom Pursglove: As of 13th November 2023, there are 24,339 people awaiting a decision on their Access to Work application. Please note that the data supplied is derived from unpublished management information, which was collected for internal departmental use only, and have not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard. They should therefore be treated with caution.

Access to Work Programme: Waiting Lists

Neil Coyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to reduce waiting times on Access to Work applications.

Tom Pursglove: Access to Work has continued to improve wait times for customers applying to the service. During the summer wait times have been halved. Access to Work has received a significant increase in demand and applications over the last year. To address this and to reduce waiting times we have recruited new staff in the year and continue to redeploy staff to reduce decision times. Our latest cohort of redeployed staff started in November. We are now consolidating their learning, which will grow capability and build additional available resource into the next quarter.

Poverty: North Wales

Mark Tami: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent estimate he has made of the number of (a) adults and (b) children living in destitution in each constituency in North Wales.

Mims Davies: No assessment has been made of the number of adults and children living in destitution in North Wales. This government is committed to reducing poverty, including child poverty, and supporting low-income families and has overseen significant falls in absolute poverty since 2009/10. In 2021/22 there were 1.7 million fewer people in absolute poverty after housing costs than in 2009/10, including 400,000 fewer children, 1 million fewer working age adults and 200,000 fewer pensioners. Rates of absolute poverty after housing costs for individuals in families in receipt of Universal Credit have also fallen by 12ppt since 2019/20. In Wales, in the three years to 2021/22 there were an average of 500,000 individuals (or 16%) in absolute poverty after housing costs, including 100,000 children. This is 200,000 fewer than in 2009/10, or a 6 percentage point decrease. Poverty statistics for all individuals are not available at the constituency level. The numbers of children living in low income families before housing costs by constituency are published in the Children in Low Income Families Publication, available here. The UK Government understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living. We are providing total support of over £94bn over 2022-23 and 2023-24 to help households and individuals with the rising bills. We are providing an additional £1 billion of funding, including Barnett impact for the devolved administrations, to enable a further extension to the Household Support Fund (HSF) in England over the 2023/24 financial year. As with all government spending in England, the HSF has led to consequential increases in Barnett funding, which the DAs spend at their discretion. As a result of the Household Support Fund extension, Wales has been allocated £50m. With almost one million job vacancies across the UK, our focus remains firmly on supporting people, including parents, to move into and progress in work. This approach is based on clear evidence about the importance of employment, particularly where it is full-time, in substantially reducing the risks of poverty. The latest statistics show that in 2021/22 children living in workless households were 5 times more likely to be in absolute poverty, after housing costs, than those where all adults work.To help people into work, our core Jobcentre offer provides a range of options, including face-to-face time with work coaches and interview assistance. In addition, there is specific support targeted towards young people, people aged 50 plus and job seekers with disabilities or health issues. To support those who are in work, from 1 April 2023, the National Living Wage (NLW) increased by 9.7% to £10.42 an hour for workers aged 23 and over - the largest ever cash increase for the NLW. In addition, the voluntary in-work progression offer started to roll-out in April 2022. It is now available in all Jobcentres across Great Britain. We estimate that around 1.4m low-paid benefit claimants will be eligible for support to progress into higher-paid work. To further support parents into work, on 28th June 2023, the maximum monthly amounts that a parent can be reimbursed for their childcare increased by 47%, from £646.35 for one child and £1,108.04 for two or more children to £950.92 and £1,630.15 respectively. Importantly, we can now also provide even more help with upfront childcare costs when parents move into work or increase their hours. This means that a parent who needs this additional financial help can now be provided with funding towards both their first and second set of costs (or increased costs), upfront, thereby easing them into the UC childcare costs cycle.

Social Security Benefits: Overpayments

Mr Rob Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people have an outstanding overpayment of benefits as of 15 November 2023; what the value of those overpayments is; and how many of those cases are the result of an error by his Department.

Tom Pursglove: The number of people with outstanding benefit overpayments recoverable by DWP and the total value of those debts as at 16 November 2023 is set out below: Volume of Customers2.765m  Outstanding Debt Value£7.060bn  *The data provided has been extracted from internal DWP management information and has therefore not been subject to the same quality assurance checks applied to our published official statistics.  As all overpayments of certain welfare benefits are recoverable in law, irrespective of how they occurred, there is no requirement to categorise departmental error in all cases and we cannot therefore provide this information. Our latest full estimates on fraud and error can be found at Fraud and error in the benefit system Financial Year Ending (FYE) 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

Carer's Allowance

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the potential implications for his policies of the Carers UK's publication entitled State of Caring Survey 2023, published 17 October 2023; and if he will make it his policy to (a) raise the level of and (b) widen the eligibility criteria for the Caring Allowance.

Tom Pursglove: I am grateful to Carers UK for its publication. It is important that unpaid carers should receive all the financial support that is available to them, including from the benefit system through Universal Credit for those on the lowest incomes, and through Carer’s Allowance. We keep this support under continual review, reflecting a wide range of data and evidence, including from key stakeholders such as Carers UK, to see whether it is meeting its policy objectives.

Personal Independence Payment

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average time taken was for his Department to respond to enquiries about Personal Independence Payments in the period between June 2023 and September 2023.

Tom Pursglove: Enquiries relating to Personal Independence Payment (PIP) can come through various channels and relate to many different areas of work. An enquiry could be made for a range of reasons and could involve several contacts or multiple requests. For these reasons we are unable to provide an average response time. For telephony enquiries we operate a service where most enquiries are handled at the point of contact in real time by our Case Workers on the PIP enquiry line. Some enquiries will be forwarded (transferred) to more experienced colleagues or specialists, and in a very small number of cases a call back may be needed.

Access to Work Programme: Neurodiversity

Bambos Charalambous: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to promote the access to work scheme to people with neurodiverse conditions.

Tom Pursglove: We collaborate closely with external stakeholders, including charities and employer associations, to raise awareness of the support provided through Access to Work across all types of disability and health conditions. We ensure that Access to Work staff, Jobcentre work coaches, health professionals and advisory groups have the information and tools they need to advocate for the scheme.  Recognising the need for clear accessible information, the Access to Work pages on gov.uk have been improved to provide clearer signposting for disabled people and employers. We also promote Access to Work as part of the Disability Confident scheme.

Universal Credit: Carers

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will take steps to ensure that the same Universal Credit work conditionality requirements apply to family and friend carers as to foster carers.

Jo Churchill: Friends and family carers, also known as kinship carers, provide incredible care to children who cannot remain with their parents. The government recognises the difficult circumstances in which many kinship carers find themselves when they first take a child into their care. As such, for the first year they are only required to attend jobcentre appointments and are not required to search or prepare for work. This allows time for adjustments to the family’s life and for the children to settle in. The policy for foster carers reflects their particular circumstances. Universal Credit does not provide claimants with financial support for any foster children in their care and only requires foster carers to attend regular appointments rather than look for work.

Employment Schemes

Alison McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether negative evaluations of employment support programmes made by his Department's Employment Data Lab result in reduced spending on those programmes.

Jo Churchill: The Employment Data Lab is an external-facing service designed to evaluate employment support provided by external organisations. DWP would not be directly involved in funding decisions for these programmes.

Employment Schemes: West Midlands

Alison McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he plans to publish objectives agreed with the West Midlands Combined Authority for (a) purposes, (b) outcomes and (c) monitoring of employment programmes funded by the Department.

Jo Churchill: The Department for Work and Pensions has agreed a deepened devolution deal with West Midlands Combined Authority and full details of the deal can be found here: West Midlands Combined Authority:“Trailblazer” deeper devolution deal - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Labour Market and Skilled Workers: Employment Data Lab

Alison McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department plans to share data from the Trailblazer labour market and skills programmes with its Employment Data Lab.

Jo Churchill: The details of any data sharing requirements of labour market and skills programmes in the Trailblazer deals will be determined throughout the design process and will follow the usual processes. The DWP Employment Data Lab is a service aimed at organisations that are external to DWP and who work with people to help them into employment. For further information on the data lab, see https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/employment-data-lab-information-and-guidance/employment-data-lab-user-guide.

Employment Data Lab: Impact Assessments

Alison McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Answer of 7 February 2023 to Question 133981, when his Department plans to complete the evaluations.

Jo Churchill: The next publication is planned for Winter 2023/24, subject to the outcome of quality assurance processes.

Jobcentre Plus: West Midlands

Alison McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he plans to ensure that Jobcentre Plus districts align with the West Midlands Combined Authority area.

Jo Churchill: An alignment happens naturally within the working arrangements of the DWP and Local Authorities (LA). At present, the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) and DWP align with 6 of the 7 LA’s within the Birmingham and Solihull and Black Country Districts. Coventry, as part of Mercia District, is the 7th LA. Whilst Mercia takes in the rural parts of the DWP West Midlands geography (Worcestershire, Herefordshire, Shropshire and Telford and Wrekin), Coventry is very much an integral part of the WMCA’s area and forms an important part of the wider and inclusive partnership working arrangements. All parts of the WMCA fall within the wider DWP West Midlands Region and the accountability of the same Leadership Team.

Employment Data Lab: Impact Assessments

Alison McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department's Employment Data Lab evaluates (a) jobcentres and (b) his Department's employment services.

Jo Churchill: The Employment Data Lab is an external-facing service designed to evaluate employment support provided by external organisations and to share the findings publicly. The service does not evaluate jobcentres or the Department’s employment services and DWP’s wider approach to evaluation is set out in its Evaluation Strategy published on gov.uk (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dwp-evaluation-strategy/dwp-evaluation-strategy). Further information can be found on the Employment Data Lab webpages on gov.uk (www.gov.uk/government/collections/employment-data-lab).

Social Security Benefits: Haemophilia

Mr Nicholas Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if his Department will take steps to passport people infected with haemophilia that are eligible for compensation via the Infected Blood Inquiry, and their affected partners, onto (a) PIP and (b) ESA.

Tom Pursglove: The Infected Blood Inquiry is ongoing, and it is only reasonable that the inquiry concludes and provides its final recommendations before the Government responds. The Government is undertaking the necessary work to enable a swift response to the full report, when it is published. People affected by the infected blood issue can already use independent benefit calculators that can be accessed via the Government website at www.gov.uk, by searching for 'benefit calculators'. These calculators allow a person to enter details of their own financial position and receive instant advice as to whether they may be entitled to any benefits. Capital disregard rules in means-tested benefits mean that recipients of infected blood compensation payments can receive these without it affecting their means-tested benefit entitlement.Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is intended to act as a contribution towards the extra costs that arise from needs related to a long-term health condition or disability. Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) is an income-replacement benefit for individuals who have a health condition or disability that limits their capability to work. Eligibility to these benefits is not based on the diagnosis of a health condition or disability. Instead, both the Work Capability Assessment, which determines entitlement to ESA and the additional health-related amount of Universal Credit, and the PIP assessment, assess the impact of a person’s health condition or disability on doing everyday tasks to determine eligibility for the benefit.

Cost of Living Payments: Disability

Kate Osamor: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department is taking steps to provide a Disability Cost of Living Payment during winter 2022-23.

Tom Pursglove: A Disability Cost of Living Payment of £150 was paid to eligible claimants in September 2022. A second Disability Cost of Living Payment of £150 was then paid in June 2023. 85% of claimants were also entitled to either £300 Pension Cost of Living Payments and up to £900 means tested benefit Cost of Living Payments. Further to this, the Energy Price Guarantee was extended from April 2023 until the end of March 2024, meaning a typical household bill will be around £3,000 per year in Great Britain.

Employment and Support Allowance

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people left the Employment and Support Allowance Support Group in each of the last twelve months for which data is available.

Tom Pursglove: The following table shows the volume of Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) Support Group (SG) claimants who left the SG, in each of the last twelve months for which data is available. Volume of ESA claimants who left the SG by month. MonthVolumeApr-2211,400May-2212,000Jun-2211,500Jul-2210,700Aug-2210,700Sep-2210,800Oct-2211,100Nov-2210,800Dec-2210,400Jan-2310,700Feb-239,800Mar-2311,600Volumes have been rounded to the nearest 100.

Employment Schemes: Disability

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many (a) long-term sick and (b) disabled people have been referred for personalised support under the Universal Support employment programme.

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many (a) long-term sick and (b) disabled people have been referred for personalised support under the Universal Support employment programme by Jobcentre work coaches.

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many (a) long-term sick and (b) disabled people have been referred for personalised support under the Universal Support employment programme by providers of his Department’s Work and Health Programme.

Tom Pursglove: Universal Support is in the early stages of development, and we will publish further information in due course.

Access to Work Programme: Neurodiversity

Bambos Charalambous: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the number of people with neurodiverse conditions who used the access to work scheme in the last 12 months.

Tom Pursglove: Regarding the information requested, the department has not made an estimate of the number of people with neurodiverse conditions who used the Access to Work scheme in the last 12 months, as this data is not routinely collected. Access to Work Official Statistics are published annually and include the number of people who received a payment for Access to Work by various customer characteristics, including primary medical condition. However, the publication does not include ‘neurodiverse condition’ as a primary medical condition.

Access to Work Programme: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Bambos Charalambous: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of prioritising support for people with ADHD through the access to work scheme in the context of shortages in ADHD medication.

Tom Pursglove: No assessment has been made - Access to Work is not intended to act as clinical support or replacement for medication.

Jobcentres: Coronavirus

Allan Dorans: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what criteria were used to determine where Temporary Job Centres were commissioned during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Paul Maynard: The Department anticipated, and then saw, an increase in demand for its services as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. It responded by rapidly expanding the space available, on a temporary basis, predominantly in major conurbations. The focus was on areas with good transport links and in buildings that were accessible for both colleagues and customers. This enabled the Department to provide a workplace that was safe for claimants and colleagues and ensured we could adhere to the Government guidance in place at the time. To ensure flexibility, premises were acquired on short-term, flexible lease arrangements to ensure we could reduce the size of the estate at the appropriate time.

Ministry of Defence

Ministry of Defence: Technology

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much his Department spent on synthetic environments for land domain system technologies in the (a) 2019-20, (b) 2020-21, (c) 2021-22 and (d) 2022-23 financial years.

James Cartlidge: Due to the wide scope of the question, it is taking time to collate all of the relevant information. I will write to the right hon. Member and place a copy of my letter in the Library of the House.

Defence Transition Services

Rachel Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to ensure that the Defence Transition Service has sufficient resources to support service leavers.

Dr Andrew Murrison: We are very proud of the support provided by both Defence Transition Services, and by the Veterans Welfare Service to date. To ensure that we continue to provide the best possible support for our Service leavers and veterans, the Ministry of Defence and the Office for Veterans’ Affairs co-sponsored an Independent Review of the welfare services for veterans provided by HM Government. The subsequent report made a number of recommendations, which the Government will be responding to in full in the near future.

Armed Forces: Housing

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many high rise buildings housing service personnel contain flammable cladding.

James Cartlidge: The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has 16 high-rise buildings (defined as seven storeys or 18 meters, and above) housing Service personnel which are partially clad with external wall systems containing combustible components. Of these 16, 14 buildings have been surveyed and not deemed to be a safety risk so no further remedial work is required. One building is due for remediation in 2024, and the remaining building is due for demolition in 2025. All buildings have annual fire risk assessments in line with Government guidance to ensure the buildings remain safe for continued occupation by Service personnel.

Apache AH-64 Helicopters: Guided Weapons

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, for what reasons his Department selected the JAGM Air-to-Ground Missile to equip the AH-64E Apache helicopter.

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what comparative assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the (a) JAGM Air-to-Ground Missile and (b) Brimstone missile.

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the estimated unit cost is of the JAGM Air-to-Ground Missile.

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much his Department has budgeted for the procurement of the JAGM Air-to-Ground Missile.

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when his Department plans for the Joint Air-to-Ground Missile to enter service.

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate his Department has made of the (a) costs and (b) timescale of integrating Brimstone onto the Apache helicopter.

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, for what reason his Department decided not to integrate the Brimstone missile onto the Apache helicopter.

James Cartlidge: Whilst it is the case that in October the United States gave approval to permitting a Foreign Military Sale of JAGM to the United Kingdom, no contract has been signed, and the matter remains under consideration as part of our ongoing stockpile review. As such, it would be inappropriate to comment further.

Army: Testing

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what progress he has made in establishing the Experimentation and Trials Group.

James Cartlidge: As advised in the Future Soldier guide published in November 2021, the Experimentation and Trials Group was established on 1 April 2022 and took the command of five Trials and Development Units.

Army: Artificial Intelligence

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to integrate artificial intelligence into the Army’s capabilities.

James Cartlidge: The Army is focussing on becoming Artificial Intelligence (AI) ready as soon as reasonably practical. The Army has already established its AI Centre, which is now delivering three macro benefits: accelerating the adoption of AI; governing the use of AI; and engaging widely across international partners, academia, industry and cross-government. The Army is also advancing in the adoption of AI with over 25 projects underway, and more starting each week.

Ministry of Defence: Technology

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much was spent by his Department on human optimisation (a) enhancement and (b) augmentation in the (i) 2019-20, (ii) 2020-21, (iii) 2021-22 and (iv) 2022-23 financial years.

James Cartlidge: Due to national security sensitivities, we are unfortunately unable to publish our Departmental year-by-year spend on these technologies.

Ministry of Defence: Technology

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much his Department spent on (a) system and (b) system of systems integration in the (i) 2019-20, (ii) 2020-21, (iii) 2021-22 and (iv) 2022-23 financial years.

James Cartlidge: The requested information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Armed Forces: Housing

Mr Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has issued guidance to (a) serving members of the armed forces and (b) family members of serving members of the armed forces on giving evidence to the Defence Select Committee inquiry into military housing.

James Cartlidge: The Department issued guidance for Serving personnel and civil servants to submit written evidence about their personal experiences to the House of Commons Defence Sub-Committee Inquiry into Service Accommodation, on the Defence Intranet. The Department has not yet issued any specific guidance to family members of Serving personnel.

Type 45 Destroyers

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the readiness days were for each of the Royal Navy’s Type 45 destroyers in each year since 2010.

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the readiness days were for each of the Royal Navy’s Type 23 frigates in each year since 2010.

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the readiness days were for each of the Royal Navy’s River-Class Batch 1 offshore patrol vessels in each year since 2010.

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the readiness days were for each of the Royal Navy’s River-Class Batch 2 offshore patrol vessels in each year since 2010.

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the readiness days were for each of the Royal Navy’s Albion-class landing platform docks in each year since 2010.

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the readiness days were for each of the Royal Navy’s Sandown-class mine counter measure vessels in each year since 2010.

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the readiness days were for each of the Royal Navy’s Hunt-class mine counter measure vessels in each year since 2010.

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the readiness days were for each of the Royal Navy’s Archer-class vessels in each year since 2010.

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the readiness days were for each of the Royal Navy’s Cutlass-class vessels in each year since 2010.

James Cartlidge: I refer the right hon. Member to the letter that I sent him in response to Question 51 on 15 November 2023. To protect the operational security of the Fleet, I am unable to provide further granularity. Royal Navy Days at Sea letter (pdf, 100.8KB)Royal Navy Days at sea annex to letter (pdf, 109.5KB)

Watchkeeper WK450

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the (a) original and (b) current (i) initial and (ii) full operating capability date is for Watchkeeper.

James Cartlidge: I refer the right hon. Member to the answer the previous Minister for Defence Procurement gave on 12 July 2022 to Question 299923 to the right hon. Member for North Durham (Kevan Jones). Watchkeeper WK450 (docx, 23.4KB)

Ajax Vehicles: Procurement

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when he plans that the Ajax programme will complete its Reliability Growth trials.

James Cartlidge: The final stage of the Ajax Programme Reliability Growth Trials (RGT) is scheduled to be completed by December 2026.

Armed Forces: Weapons

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference the Answer of 11 September 2023 to Question 197994 on Armed Forces: Weapons, how much and what proportion of the funding for Armed Forces stockpiles over the next two years has been allocated to the (a) Army, (b) Royal Navy and (c) RAF.

James Cartlidge: The proportion of funding between the three Services is still subject to contract and therefore liable to change significantly. I will write to the right hon. Member in due course once the position has changed.

Armed Forces: Personal Savings

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will make an estimate of the number of staff working for the armed forces who have (a) no savings, (b) savings of less than £100 and (c) savings equivalent to less than (i) one and (ii) three month’s salary.

Dr Andrew Murrison: The requested information is not collected by the Ministry of Defence (MOD). An individual’s level of savings and personal finances are an entirely private matter.

Defence: Exports

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to secure greater export opportunities in the defence sector.

James Cartlidge: The Defence Command Paper Refresh, published on 18 July 2023, stated the Government’s commitment to increasing defence exports, which includes placing a premium on exportability during capability development and selection; taking a whole of Government approach, through a Defence and Security Exports Inter-Ministerial Group driving priorities; and delivering Government-to-Government frameworks for key partners to support both capability collaboration and exports.

Department for Business and Trade

Import Duties: Morocco

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if she will lift (a) tariffs and (b) quotas on (i) tomatoes, (ii) cucumbers, (iii) other winter fruit and vegetables and (iv) other products originating from Morocco.

Greg Hands: The UK-Morocco Association Agreement requires both parties to undertake a review of all agriculture and fisheries tariffs within three years of its entry into force in 2021. This review was launched on 16 November 2023. Following conclusion of the review, the parties will examine granting further liberalisation on agriculture products on a regular basis.

Liquefied Natural Gas: Mozambique

Bell Ribeiro-Addy: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to the report by Jean-Christophe Rufin entitled Report on the socioeconomic, humanitarian and human rights situation in the PalmaAfungi-Mocímboa area, published by Total Energy in May 2023, whether she has made an assessment of the extent to which the recommendations from that report (a) have been implemented and (b) will be implemented before any work resumes on the Mozambique LNG project.

Greg Hands: The Mozambique LNG Project sponsors have developed, and are currently implementing, an Action Plan to address the recommendations set out in the report by independent expert, Jean-Christophe Rufin. M. Rufin has been commissioned monitor the implementation of the Action Plan.

Overseas Investment: Southern Africa

Sir Robert Buckland: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps she is taking to support sustainable investment in Southern Africa; and if she will publish a sustainable investment plan for Southern Africa.

Greg Hands: The UK’s Economic Partnership Agreements with southern African countries and the UK Developing Countries Trading Scheme enable trade and promote development. UK Export Finance supports the region with billions of pounds of finance or insurance cover available for projects involving UK suppliers. The Prime Minister has announced that he will host the second UK-African Investment Summit in 2024, which will help UK businesses secure sustainable investment into the region and maintain the UK’s position as the leading investor in Africa. The Government’s plans for sustainable investment in developing economies is set out in the International Development Strategy.

Global Britain Investment Fund: Yorkshire and the Humber

Sir Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many businesses in Yorkshire have received funding from the Global Britain Investment Fund; and what proportion of that Fund has been spent.

Greg Hands: The Global Britain Investment Fund (GBIF) was launched in April 2022 which brought together several pre-existing funds under one banner. Following the machinery of government change in February 2023, GBIF is now shared between the Department for Business and Trade, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.To date 110 businesses have received funding, 4 of which are based in Yorkshire, with a total of £630m grant allocated representing 72% of the total £880m of funding for GBIF across all businesses.

Employment Agencies

Claire Hanna: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, when her Department plans to publish its response to the consultation entitled Payment handling by employment agencies in the entertainment, sport and modelling sectors.

Kevin Hollinrake: The government is carefully considering the views and evidence submitted in response to this consultation. The government will publish its summary of responses and next steps in due course.

Small Businesses: Skilled Workers

Mike Amesbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps her Department is taking to help small businesses train their skilled staff.

Kevin Hollinrake: We provide extensive business support for Small and Medium Enterprise (SMEs) to upskill their teams. Help to Grow: Management is an intensive national training programme to improve SMEs leadership and management skills. SMEs can apply and develop their skills in areas such as financial management, innovation, and staff engagement. Help to Grow: Management provides practical support for SMEs to upskill their staff, helping lead their business to its full potential. The Department has also developed the UK Export Academy. This is a free training programme for SMEs and their staff, designed to give businesses the confidence to sell overseas.

Hospitality Industry and Retail Trade: Skilled Workers

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if she will take steps to ensure that the hospitality and retail sectors equip their staff with transferable skills.

Kevin Hollinrake: We regularly meet with businesses in the hospitality and retail sectors to identify and address skills needs. Through the Hospitality Sector Council, we are working with businesses to consider how best to strengthen recruitment, training, and retention. The Retail Sector Council recently published a discussion document, Retail – The Great Enabler, inviting comments on the key challenges for the sector including skills and employment.

Energy Intensive Industries: Government Assistance

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what her Department's planned timetable is for publishing its response to the consultation entitled Consultation on the British Industry Supercharger package for strategic Energy Intensive Industries which closed on 29 June 2023.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: The Department published the response to this consultation on 5th September 2023. The response can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/british-industry-supercharger-capacity-market-consultation-and-eiis-government-response

Trade Agreements: India

Kirsten Oswald: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps her Department is taking to (a) identify and (b) prevent any potential conflicts of interest for (i) Cabinet Ministers and (ii) Ministers in her Department in relation to the UK-India free trade negotiations.

Kevin Hollinrake: The Department for Business and Trade manages ministerial conflicts of interest through an established system set out in the Ministerial Code and led by the Cabinet Office. This ensures that steps are taken to avoid or mitigate any potential conflicts of interest. The Permanent Secretary, together with the Prime Minister’s Independent Advisor for Ministers’ Interests, have reviewed the interests of DBT Ministers and, where necessary, have proposed mitigations to manage any potential conflicts of interest. These mitigations have been agreed and implemented with the relevant Minister. We do not manage conflicts of interest for Ministers outside of the Department for Business and Trade. The Ministerial Code is available on GOV.UK at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ministerial-code.

Business: Government Assistance

Harriett Baldwin: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether he plans to provide local authorities with an (a) application form template, (b) eligibility pre-payment checklist guide and (c) FAQ document to support assessments of eligibility for business recovery grants to help with recovery from the impact of Storm Babet.

Kevin Hollinrake: Further to activation of the Flood Recovery Framework following severe flooding caused by Storm Babet, the Business Recovery Grant will support eligible business premises within qualifying flooded areas to help with recovery. Administered by the Department for Business and Trade (DBT), local authorities will receive funding equivalent to £2,500 per eligible business premises, to help support recovery in the immediate aftermath of Storm Babet. An application form template, eligibility pre-payment checklist guide and a FAQ document to support assessments of eligibility for business recovery grants have been issued to Local Authorities to support them in administering the grant.

Warehouses

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps she is taking to support the warehouse sector in (a) Romford, (b) Essex and (c) the UK.

Kevin Hollinrake: The Department continues to deliver a wide range of business support schemes, with over 40 offers that help businesses start, grow and export. We are continuously improving our offer to help businesses access the finance and support they need, improve their skills and remove barriers to trade. This includes relevant businesses in the warehouse sector. The Government provides extensive support to businesses through our Help to Grow Management, Business Support Helpline and Growth Hubs. Businesses can also access government-backed financial support from the British Business Bank.

Office for Life Sciences

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many times she has met officials from the Office for Life Sciences since 7 February 2023; and what correspondence she has had with the that organisation in the same time period.

Kevin Hollinrake: The Secretary of State for Business and Trade has had no meetings with the Office of Life Sciences (OLS) since 7 February 2023 and there are no records of correspondence between the Secretary of State and the OLS for the same time period.

Cabinet Office

Disease Control: Departmental Responsibilities

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the UK biological security strategy published on 12 June 2023, when he expects a dedicated Minister for the UK Biological Security Strategy to be appointed.

Alex Burghart: The Biological Security Strategy was published in June 2023 confirming that the Deputy Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster had been established as lead minister for the Strategy. The Deputy Prime Minister was also committed to make an annual statement to Parliament on progress implementing the Strategy, which will take place next year.

National Security: China

Stewart Malcolm McDonald: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament report entitled China, published on 13 July 2023, what recent steps his Department has taken to mitigate the potential risks highlighted in that report associated with UK-China investment initiatives.

Alex Burghart: As highlighted in the government’s response to the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament’s report on China, the government will not hesitate to use our powers to protect national security where we identify concerns. The government continues to provide guidance to businesses to protect investments, including the National Protective Security Authority’s ‘Secure Innovation Campaign’. The government has powers under the National Security and Investment Act 2021 to scrutinise and, where necessary, intervene in acquisitions of control over entities and assets in or linked to the UK that may pose national security risks. Of the 15 final orders issued during the 2022-2023 financial year, eight involved acquirers associated with China. The government carefully monitors the effect of this system in mitigating risks. This includes seeking frequent feedback, such as through the recent Call for Evidence launched on 13 November 2023. The steps the government has taken related to the China report recommendations can be found in the Government Response to the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament Report ‘China’: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/government-response-to-the-isc-china-report

Ministers: Redundancy Pay

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much each Secretary of State who has resigned in the last three years received as severance pay.

John Glen: Details of the severance payments made to ministers when leaving office are published in departments’ annual reports and accounts.

Veterans: Homelessness

Rachel Hopkins: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much the Government has spent on Op Fortitude in 2023.

Johnny Mercer: This Government is working towards ending veteran rough sleeping via Op FORTITUDE, a dedicated referral scheme to provide a single central point for local authorities and charities, with £8.55m in funding for specialist help for former armed forces personnel in more than 900 veteran supported housing units.

Suella Braverman

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Minister of the Cabinet Office, whether the Prime Minister exchanged letters with the Rt hon. Member for Fareham at the end of her term in office as Home Secretary; and for what reasons she no longer holds the office of Home Secretary.

Alex Burghart: The reasons for my right hon. Friend’s departure from government are a matter of public record.

Home Office

Asylum: Rwanda

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the cost to the public purse was of responding to legal challenges to the UK-Rwanda Migration and Economic Development Partnership as of 15 November 2023.

Robert Jenrick: The information requested on legal costs has been released through the Home Affairs Select Committee. Please find the information requested at this link: https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/40398/documents/197156/default/

Sham Marriage

Sir John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate his Department has made of how many sham marriages for the purposes of an immigration advantage have taken place since 2019.

Robert Jenrick: Information about sham marriages is not currently available in our published data as this would result in a disproportionate cost.

Demonstrations: Arrests

Sir John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people have been arrested (a) on and (b) relating to pro-Palestinian marches that have taken place since 14 October 2023.

Chris Philp: The Home Office collects and publishes data on people arrested in England and Wales. The latest data, for the year ending March 2023 is available here:Stop and search and arrests, year ending March 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)However, the data is collected by broader offence group and by financial year, therefore data relating to specific protest activity is not held.https://news.met.police.uk/news/further-arrests-as-officers-investigate-offences-linked-to-israel-slash-hamas-conflict-475496

Undocumented Migrants: English Channel

Sir Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what advice his Department provides to rescue services that pick up migrants in small boats in the English Channel in (a) international and (b) UK territorial waters on where they can land those rescued; and what (i) domestic and (ii) international legal advice he has received on whether they can be landed on the territory of the last safe country from which they embarked.

Robert Jenrick: Rescues of people making dangerous, illegal and unnecessary crossings of the Channel in small boats are directed and coordinated by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) and are subject to the UK's obligations under the SAR and SOLAS Conventions and UNCLOS. The policy on where, when and how those people are rescued therefore lies with MCA and not the Home Office.

Asylum: Hotels

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of hotels previously used to house asylum seekers have stopped being used for this purpose in the last 12 months.

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many hotels his Department is using to provide accommodation for asylum seekers.

Robert Jenrick: Data on the number of supported asylum seekers in accommodation (including in contingency hotels and other contingency accommodation) is published in table Asy_D11 here: Asylum and resettlement datasets - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). Data is published on a quarterly basis, with the next quarterly figures due to be released at the end of November 2023.

British Nationality: Hamas

Paul Girvan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department has taken recent steps to withdraw British citizenship from people who are members of Hamas.

Robert Jenrick: We cannot comment on any individual cases. We have made clear, those who promote genocide, glorify terrorism and revel in the murder of innocent people must know that they will experience the full force of the law, including those who may hold British citizenship.

Religious Freedom

Sir Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will have discussions with the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police on the (a) circumstances which led the police to cancel a prayer walk for Israel and the Jewish people, organised by Christian Action Against Anti-Antisemitism to take place in Golders Green on 21 October 2023, (b) the basis on which the police determined that tweets by supporters of a pro-Palestinian march scheduled for the same day seven miles away constituted a sufficient level of threat to require cancellation of the Golders Green event and (c) whether the police plan to investigate those tweets further.

Chris Philp: The Home Office is in regular contact with the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) regarding the recent protests following the devastating events in Israel.The management of protests is an operational matter for the police, as are decisions around investigations. The Home Office cannot intervene on specific operational decisions of this nature, to do so would undermine their independence.The MPS have confirmed that an officer provided advice and guidance to the organisers of the prayer walk. Following those discussions, a decision was made by the organiser to cancel the vigil.The MPS do not have the power to prohibit a public procession without the consent of the Secretary of State.

Lancashire Constabulary: Vetting

Ashley Dalton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what data his Department holds on the number of (a) members of staff and (b) officers in Lancashire Constabulary for whom (i) the correct level of vetting has not been applied and (ii) vetting clearance has expired.

Ashley Dalton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether management vetting is required for all officers who hold the rank of sergeant in the police force.

Chris Philp: The Home Office does not hold data in relation to the number, status or levels of vetting for individuals working in policing. Vetting and recruitment matters are handled independently, and on a case-by-case basis, by each force. Decisions on vetting should be made in accordance with the statutory Vetting Code of Practice and vetting authorised professional practice (APP), issued by the College of Policing.His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) carries out regular inspections on the effectiveness of forces’ vetting arrangements. Details of these inspections are available on its website: https://hmicfrs.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/The vetting APP outlines the criteria that forces should consider when determining the level of vetting clearance which is to be applied to a post rather than a particular rank. This includes whether the post requires access to particularly sensitive information and/or assets.

Police: Career Development

Mr Ranil Jayawardena: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has had recent discussions with the College of Policing on the reinstatement of direct entry routes to (a) inspector and (b) superintendent.

Chris Philp: This Government is committed to ensuring a high standard of leadership across policing.As part of its important work to develop the National Centre for Police Leadership, the College of Policing remains committed to exploring options for a viable and sustainable delivery model for Direct Entry pathways in the future, if there is clear demand from forces. Following further consultation with the sector last year, it was clear that demand was not sufficient to run a recalibrated programme at either inspector or superintendent rank at the present time.To ensure a strong pipeline of leaders at all levels, the College launched new national leadership standards for every level in policing earlier this year. It is now rolling out a new national talent management strategy for policing, including a new two-year development programme to enable the most talented serving police inspectors to advance more quickly to superintendent rank.

Non-crime Hate Incidents

Sir John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much was spent by police forces in England investigating non-crime hate incidents in (a) 2019, (b) 2020, (c) 2021 and (d) 2022.

Chris Philp: The Home Office does not hold data on police spending relating to the investigation of non-crime hate incidents.

Asylum: Finance

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department has a target for the time taken to make decisions on section 95 asylum support applications.

Robert Jenrick: Each case will be different so it is difficult to say how long the Home Office will need to decide an individual application for section 95 support, though we do endeavour to complete applications in a timely manner. Once we receive an asylum seeker’s fully completed application from Migrant Help, we prioritise those who are homeless and those who are in initial accommodation.If an asylum seeker requires an update on their application’s progress, they are encouraged to contact Migrant Help who can request an update from the Home Office. This can be done via their webchat, the ‘raise an issue’ link on their website or by calling their freephone helpline on 0808 8010 503.

Asylum: Rwanda

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the Government is contractually obligated to pay any further monies to the Rwandan Government as part of the Migration and Economic Development Partnership as of 15 November 2023.

Robert Jenrick: The details of the funding agreement are confidential in order to maintain commercial sensitivity and preserve a safe space to negotiate bilateral agreements.In terms of payments to Rwanda, as previously published we have provided Rwanda with an initial investment of £120 million into its economic and growth as part of the Economic Transformation and Integration Fund (ETIF). Investment has been focused in areas such as education, healthcare, agriculture, infrastructure, and job creation.In advance of flights taking place, a separate £20 million was also paid last year to support initial set up costs for the relocation of individuals. We will not enter into speculation as to what the final costs of the partnership may be nor provide a running commentary.

Abortion: Demonstrations

Olivia Blake: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to Section 9 of the Public Order Act 2023, if he will publish a timetable on the implementation of safe access zones around abortion clinics.

Chris Philp: I refer to the statement made by the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the Home Office in the House of Lords on 20th November.

Asylum: Rwanda

Alison Thewliss: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much his Department spent on R (on the application of AAA (Syria) and others) v Secretary of State for the Home Department and related cases.

Robert Jenrick: The information requested on legal costs has been released through the Home Affairs Select Committee. Please find the information requested at this link: https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/40398/documents/197156/default/

Burglary: Mid Bedfordshire

Alistair Strathern: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps she has taken to reduce the rate of burglaries in Mid Bedfordshire constituency.

Chris Philp: Crime Survey for England and Wales data shows a 57% per cent fall in domestic burglaries when comparing the year ending June 2023 with year ending March 2010 Crime Surveys; representing a fall from 917,000 to 394,000 incidents. This is clearly good news; however, we recognise the significant impact invasive crimes such as domestic burglary can have on individuals and the wider community, and we are committed to tackling and preventing these crimes.Through Round Five of the Safer Streets Fund, we have allocated £42 million to support a range of crime prevention interventions, including additional CCTV and improved street lighting and physical security of properties.The public want to know the police will visit them when a home burglary has been committed, which is why we welcome the announcement made by the National Police Chiefs’ Council on the 8 June that all 43 police forces in England and Wales have been implementing this policy since March. We are working with police leaders to ensure forces are making their attendance data available to the public. https://news.npcc.police.uk/releases/police-now-attending-scene-of-every-home-burglaryThe police commitment to attend home burglaries is supported by specific College of Policing good practice guidance on conducting residential burglary investigations. https://www.college.police.uk/guidance/residential-burglary Setting the standard in respect of the initial response and the subsequent investigation, the guidance sits alongside the College of Policing’s Authorised Professional Practice on Investigations.As part of this back-to-basics approach, police forces across England and Wales have committed to pursue all lines of enquiry where there is a reasonable chance it could lead them to catching a perpetrator and solving a crime. This commitment, announced on 28 August, has been worked up and agreed by the Home Office, in tandem with the National Police Chiefs’ Council and College of Policing. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pursuing-all-reasonable-lines-of-enquiry-letter-to-police-leaders/pursuing-all-reasonable-lines-of-enquiry-letter-to-police-leadersFurthermore, we are clear there is an expectation that forces work with partners across the justice system to see more criminals charged and prosecuted.To help ensure the police have the resources they need to fight crime and tackle anti-social behaviour, we have delivered on our commitment to recruit 20,000 additional police officers by the end of March this year. As of 31 March, a total of 20,947 additional officers had been recruited across England and Wales through the Police Uplift Programme (PUP), raising the number of police officers in England and Wales to 149,566, the highest number on record since comparable records began. As a result of the PUP, as at 31 March 2023 Bedfordshire had a headcount of 1,455 police officers, a 15.0% increase on its pre-PUP peak of 1,265 police officers in March 2010.

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities: Theft

Sarah Olney: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what data their Department holds on the (a) number and (b) cost of replacing (i) laptops, (ii) mobile phones, (iii) memory sticks and (iv) external hard drives that have been (A) lost and (B) stolen in the last 12 months.

Felicity Buchan: This department has over 3,500 staff and almost all have access to devices to enable them to work effectively.Sadly, on rare occasions, some devices are lost or stolen. This is not a unique problem for Government and I note that according to the Huffington Post ‘Sheffield Lib Dems HQ [was] burgled’ in 2019 leading to local campaign organiser Kurtis Crossland appealing for ‘replacement laptops and mobile phones.’ A link to this article is available here.In 2022, this department recorded ten lost/stolen laptops and eight lost/stolen phones – which is a very small proportion of total devices.All departmental IT is security encrypted. The department does not provide or support memory sticks or external drives. Details of Government contracts are published online. Departmental security investigates each reported loss from the department. There has been no reported data loss or compromise as a result of these losses.

Social Rented Housing: Eligibility

Mike Amesbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an estimate of the number of people living in the private rented sector who are eligible for social housing.

Jacob Young: The Information requested is not held centrally.

Pedestrian Areas: Planning

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent assessment he has made of the potential impact of planning regulations on the accessibility of pavements for public use.

Jacob Young: I refer the Hon Member to the answer given to Question UIN 763 on 13 November 2023.

Planning: Birmingham

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many (a) site visits by (i) an inspector and (ii) an inspector's representative and (b) written exercises were conducted following appeals to the Planning Inspectorate on planning applications in (A) Birmingham, Edgbaston constituency and (B) the Birmingham City Council area in each of the last five years.

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many (a) site visits by (i) an inspector or (ii) an inspector's representative and (b) paper exercises were undertaken in response to appeals to the Planning Inspectorate in each of the last five years.

Lee Rowley: The table below gives information on site visits by Inspectors and others for the last five years, as well as those where we do not have statistics on who carried out the site visit. Oct 18 - Sep 19Site visit by InspectorSite visit by APO/ RTPI AppNo Name/ Grade recordedAll PINS19162133660Birmingham LPA19402Edgbaston1400Oct 19 - Sep 20Site visit by inspectorSite visit by APO/ RTPI AppNo Name/ Grade recordedAll PINS15694667655Birmingham LPA13414Edgbaston2000Oct 20 - Sep 21Site visit by inspectorSite visit by APO/ RTPI AppNo Name/ Grade recordedAll PINS15901429693Birmingham LPA15833Edgbaston1210Oct 21 - Sep 22Site visit by inspectorSite visit by APO/ RTPI AppNo Name/ Grade recordedAll PINS15047530534Birmingham LPA15475Edgbaston1302Oct 22 - Sep 23Site visit by inspectorSite visit by APO/ RTPI AppNo Name/ Grade recordedAll PINS15920213680Birmingham LPA14735Edgbaston0010 Note: APO = Appeals Planning Officer;  RTPI App = Royal Town Planning Institute Apprentices

Housing: Greater London

Mr Ranil Jayawardena: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he has had recent discussions with the Mayor of London on levels of demand for new homes in the Greater London Authority area.

Lee Rowley: The department is looking at the barriers to housing delivery in London and will continue to work closely with the Greater London Authority on this and other areas of shared interest.

Department for Transport

Bicycles: Delivery Services

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will take steps to encourage delivery companies to switch to cargo bikes in urban areas.

Guy Opperman: The Government recognises the role of e-cargo bikes in helping to decarbonise the freight sector and has outlined its support for moving freight to innovative modes such as e-cargo bikes in the Future of Freight plan. Since 2019, we have invested nearly £4 million in supporting businesses and local authorities to transition to more sustainable business travel and last mile deliveries through e-cargo bike grants, helping nearly 300 businesses and over 30 local authorities to replace car and van journeys with e-cargo bikes.

Bicycles: Recycling and Repairs and Maintenance

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department is taking steps to encourage the recycling and repair of old bicycles.

Guy Opperman: Active Travel England is providing £4 million across 2023/24 and 2024/25 to Cycling UK’s ongoing Big Bike Revival project, which includes cycle repairs and maintenance workshops, including for onward sale or donation of second-hand cycles.

Merchant Shipping (Work in Fishing Convention) (Medical Certification) Regulations 2018

Ben Lake: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when his Department plans to publish a report following a review of the regulatory provision contained in regulations 3 to 16 of the Merchant Shipping (Work in Fishing Convention)(Medical Certification) Regulations 2018.

Guy Opperman: The Maritime and Coastguard Agency have conducted a survey on the Merchant Shipping (Work in Fishing Convention) (Medical Certification) Regulations 2018, the results are being analysed and the report is due to be published in Spring 2024.

Electric Vehicles: Charging Points

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of ensuring that electric vehicle charging points are available throughout the UK, in the context of the Rapid Charging Fund pilot.

Guy Opperman: The Government is working with industry to deliver electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure. The management of motorways and major roads is a devolved policy area and as such the Rapid Charging Fund is England only. Certain Government funding schemes, namely the EV Chargepoint Grant, the Workplace Charging Scheme, and the On-Street Residential Charging Scheme, are available UK-wide. In addition, funding has been awarded to projects in the devolved administrations to support chargepoint installation - for example through the Levelling Up Fund, where in Northern Ireland, ESB has received £3 million towards the upgrade of the EV charging network.

Driving Tests

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the (a) number of practical driving tests booked in 2023 as of 16 November 2023 and (b) proportion of those practical driving tests booked (i) through third-party applications not approved by the DVSA and (ii) by automated bots.

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an estimate of the average amount paid in pounds sterling for practical driving test slots that were (a) booked via third-party applications not approved by the DVSA and (b) resold after having been bought by automated bots.

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the average waiting time for a practical driving test at each DVSA assessment centre as of 16 November 2023.

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to limit the use of (a) third party applications not approved by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency and (b) automated bots to book driving tests.

Guy Opperman: The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) is aware that some companies have been using bots or third-party applications to snap up appointments on its public booking service, as soon as they become available, leaving fewer test appointments for genuine learner drivers to purchase directly from the DVSA. These apps or bots are not approved by the DVSA. In January this year, the DVSA changed the terms and conditions for using the booking service to help prevent anyone from selling tests at profit. Since then, the DVSA has issued 192 warnings, 532 suspensions, and closed 438 businesses for misuse of its booking service. To ensure its booking system is used correctly, the DVSA has also:stopped accepting new automatic online registrations to use its tests booking servicestopped accepting any new registrations from companies who do not directly employ a driving instructor.removed registrations not linked to driving instructors.reduced the number of times a driving test appointment can be changed from 10 to the pre-pandemic limit of 6. Following these changes, there has been a significant drop in traffic to these services because the DVSA is successfully identifying and blocking apps or bots.  As of 13 November 2023, there were 562,296 car practical driving tests booked, and 82,836 driving tests available within the 24-week booking window. The national average waiting time for a car practical driving test in October 2023 was 18.8 weeks. The DVSA does not hold the number of driving tests that have been booked by automated bots. Since April 2021, measures put in place by the DVSA to reduce waiting times for its customers is creating on average over 42,900 extra car test slots each month.DVSA is examining additional measures to further strengthen the system.

Parking: Pedestrian Areas

Sarah Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to his Department's consultation on Pavement parking: options for change, which closed on 22 November 2020, when he plans to publish his Department's response to the consultation.

Guy Opperman: Pavement parking is a complex issue. We want to take the right step for communities and ensure that local authorities have appropriate and effective tools at their disposal. We are working through the options and the possible legislative opportunities for delivering them and as soon as those matters are certain we will publish our formal response.

Roads: Repairs and Maintenance

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will issue guidance to highways authorities on the best practice to decarbonise roads maintenance.

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will issue guidance to local authorities on the use of longer-lasting road surfacing materials.

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of using lower carbon warm mix asphalt in national road repairs.

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will issue guidance to local authorities on (a) effective and (b) efficient ways to allocate pothole and road maintenance funding.

Guy Opperman: The Department allocates pothole and highway maintenance capital funding to local highway authorities in England, outside of London, based on the length of roads, number of street lighting columns, and the number of bridges for which they are responsible. It is up to the respective highway authority how best to spend this funding to fulfil its statutory duty under Section 41 of the Highways Act 1980, based on local knowledge, circumstances and priorities.The Department strongly advocates a risk-based whole lifecycle asset management approach to local authority highways maintenance programmes. This considers all parts of the highway network, such as bridges, cycleways, and lighting columns – and not just the fixing of potholes.The Department encourages good practice in local highway maintenance and endorses the UK Roads Leadership Group’s Code of Practice 'Well-managed highway infrastructure' - https://www.ciht.org.uk/ukrlg-home/code-of-practice/. The Code gives advice on all aspects of highway maintenance and Recommendation 32 gives advice on carbon reduction.Decarbonisation is a key Government priority. Through the ADEPT Live Labs research programme, the Department is investing £30 million into seven projects aimed at reducing carbon by using sustainable materials and processes, such as warm-mix asphalts and asphalt modifiers.Local highway authorities across England are set to benefit from a major boost in funding for highway maintenance, representing the biggest ever road resurfacing programme to improve local roads. My Department has published details of the £8.3 billion extra road funding which will make an unprecedented transformation in the condition of our highways.

Electric Scooters: Subsidies

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing an e-bike subsidy scheme.

Guy Opperman: The Government already supports e-bikes through the Cycle to Work scheme. In addition, the Government has been trialling a national e-cycle programme to provide opportunities to try e-cycles through short term loans. Active Travel England is also funding local authority-led cycle loan and share schemes and continues to support authorities to implement e-cycle initiatives in their local communities.

Property: Appleby Magna

Andrew Bridgen: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, for what reason the Land Registry does (a) include a record of the sale in 2011 and (b) not include a record of the sale in 2015 of the Old Rectory in Appleby Magna.

Anthony Browne: The Land Registry does have a record of the sale in 2015 of the Old Rectory in Appleby Magna and a copy of the Land Registry summary of title document is attached.Land Registry Sale Record document (pdf, 195.8KB)

Question

Mr Ben Bradshaw: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to implement the recommendation of the APPG on Cycling and Walking in its report entitled Road justice, published in September 2023, on making exceptional hardship grounds available only on appeal in the Crown Court.

Guy Opperman: The government does not have any plans to make any changes to the application of exceptional hardship.

Alternative Fuels

Henry Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he plans to publish the low carbon fuels strategy; and what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the use of hydrogen in aviation.

Anthony Browne: The Department is planning to publish a Low Carbon Fuels Strategy in early 2024, which aims to support investment in the sector by setting out a vision for the deployment of low carbon fuels across transport modes up to 2050.The Government’s Jet Zero Strategy published in 2022 recognises the role that hydrogen can play, both directly as a fuel in zero emission flight and as a feedstock for Sustainable Aviation Fuel, in our approach to achieving net zero aviation by 2050.In addition, the Government, through the Department for Business and Trade, is investing £685 million between 2022 and 2025 through the Aerospace Technology Institute Programme to co-fund with industry the development of ultra-efficient and zero emission, including hydrogen, aircraft technology.

Motor Vehicles: Carbon Emissions

Bob Blackman: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he plans to take account of the life cycle analysis of L-Category vehicles when phasing out new non zero emission variants.

Anthony Browne: The consultation on when to end the sale of new non-zero emission L-category vehicles was open to responses from 14 July to 21 September 2022 and supported by a thorough programme of stakeholder engagement. We are now analysing the responses and will bring forward the Government’s response in due course. Analysis of lifecycle emissions is an important consideration as we accelerate the transition to a zero-emission fleet of road vehicles. Whilst there is no internationally recognised method of measuring lifecycle emissions in any transport sector, the Department’s Transport Energy Model, published in 2018, and the externally commissioned Lifecycle Analysis of UK Road Vehicles, published in 2021, provide clear assessments of the relative environmental impacts of different road vehicle technologies and fuels in the UK.

Motorcycles: Carbon Emissions

Sir Peter Bottomley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress his Department has made on the actions identified in the joint action plan published by the Motorcycle Industry Association entitled Realising the Full Potential of Zero Emission Powered Light Vehicles in February 2022.

Anthony Browne: The Government continues to engage with industry to deliver the Action Plan where appropriate. To address actions 2 and 3 on growing and developing the supply chain, the Government made up to £350,000 of funding available for research and development projects to grow the zero-emission motorcycle supply chain in the UK. The Department is also working with the recently established “Powered Light Vehicle Community” to address action 9 on creating a formal L-category community. In addition, the Department is engaged with the MCIA’s recent licensing review proposals to address action 6 to review minimum testing and licence entitlements for all battery electric L-Category vehicles.

Motor Vehicles: Alternative Fuels

Bob Blackman: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the use of (a) low carbon and (b) synthetic fuels for L-Category vehicles in the transition to net zero.

Anthony Browne: The consultation on when to end the sale of new non-zero emission L-category vehicles was open to responses from 14 July to 21 September 2022 and was supported by a thorough programme of stakeholder engagement. We are now analysing the responses and will bring forward the Government’s response in due course.The Government’s approach to delivering its ambitions for greener transport is not outcome neutral - the end goal must be zero exhaust emissions. Vehicles that burn synthetic fuels still emit air pollutants at the exhaust. However, the Government understands the need to decarbonise vehicles on the road today and the potential contribution synthetic fuels can make. This is why the Government has increased targets for the supply of low carbon fuels under the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) and will continue to review that scheme to ensure that it can continue to support delivery of its carbon budgets.Synthetics and other alternative fuels can be expensive, energy intensive to produce and do not always improve air quality. They show greatest potential in areas that are difficult to electrify, such as aviation. Relying on synthetic fuels to decarbonise road transport would put the UK at risk of failing to meet its economy wide targets on both CO2 and air pollution emissions.

Motor Vehicles: Carbon Emissions

Bob Blackman: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with his EU counterparts about their decision not to set a date for the phase out of new non zero emission L-Category vehicles.

Anthony Browne: The UK’s exit from the European Union has provided the opportunity for this country to develop its own regulatory approach to decarbonising its entire fleet of new road vehicles, supporting UK industry and riders in the process.

Motorcycles: Carbon Emissions

Sir Peter Bottomley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will work with the Motorcycle Industry Association on establishing a credit scheme for non-zero emission L-Category vehicles after the end-of-sale phase-out date.

Anthony Browne: The Government will consult on any future regulatory framework to deliver and enforce the end of sale dates for new non-zero emission L-category vehicles as is appropriate. This would involve engagement with industry and other stakeholders.

Parking: Pedestrian Areas

Peter Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he plans to publish a response to his Department's consultation Pavement parking: options for change, updated on 29 June 2023.

Guy Opperman: The Government is working through the options and the possible legislative opportunities given that pavement parking is a complex issue. We want to take the right step for communities and ensure that local authorities have appropriate and effective tools at their disposal. As soon as those matters are clear we will publish our formal response at:www.gov.uk/government/consultations/managing-pavement-parking.

Department for Transport: Theft

Sarah Olney: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what data their Department holds on the (a) number and (b) cost of replacing (i) laptops, (ii) mobile phones, (iii) memory sticks and (iv) external hard drives that have been (A) lost and (B) stolen in the last 12 months.

Anthony Browne: The response below covers the central Department and the five Executive Agencies: VCA, DVLA, MCGA, ATE and DVSA. Please note: DfT(c) handle all IT devices for Active Travel England (ATE) and so these figures are included in the DfT(c) figures. (a,i,A) The number of lost laptops was 30. (a,ii,A) The number of lost mobile phones was 86. (a,i,B) The number of stolen laptops was 24. (a,ii,B) the number of stolen mobile phones was 20. (b,i,A) the cost of replacing lost laptops was between £1185 incl VAT and £1856.40 incl VAT, per item. (b,ii,A) the cost of replacing lost mobile phones was between £240 incl VAT and £790.78 incl VAT, per item. (b,i,B) the cost of replacing stolen laptops was between £1185 and £1856.40 incl VAT, per item. (b,ii,B) the cost of replacing stolen mobile phones was between £240 incl VAT and £790.78 incl VAT, per item.. (iii and iv) we do not issue memory sticks or external hard drives, so do not hold data on them.

Passenger Ships: Electricity

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will take steps to introduce a marine electricity tariff for shore power to incentivise cruise ships to use ports capable of proving shore power.

Guy Opperman: We intend to launch a Call for Evidence on Net Zero Ports which will gather evidence on ports decarbonisation and the role of ports in enabling others to decarbonise.

Department of Health and Social Care

Members: Correspondence

Derek Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for the Lords) plans to reply to the correspondence from the the hon. Member for St Ives of 29 September 2023 on gaining consents under legal charges from NHS bodies.

Andrew Stephenson: The Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Lord Markham) replied to the hon. Member on 17 November 2023.

Viral Diseases: Research

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of financial support for medical research into post-viral conditions.

Andrew Stephenson: The Department funds research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). In recent years, the NIHR has made major strategic investments in long COVID and myalgic encephalomyelitis (also known as chronic fatigue syndrome) and is exploring additional research in these areas. No specific assessment has been made of the adequacy of financial support for medical research into post-viral conditions as a whole.The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including post-viral conditions. These applications are subject to peer review and judged through open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality. In all disease areas, the amount of NIHR funding depends on the volume and quality of scientific activity.

Radiology: Telemedicine

Karin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of radiology scans were outsourced to teleradiology companies based overseas in each of the last five years.

Karin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will publish a list of the teleradiology companies based overseas that NHS radiology scans have been outsourced to in each of the last five years.

Andrew Stephenson: The data requested is not held centrally, and there are no current plans to publish a list of the teleradiology companies based overseas that NHS radiology scans have been outsourced to.

Commercial Clinical Trials in the UK Review

Mr Ranil Jayawardena: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department has taken to implement the (a) significant actions under problem statement 6 and (b) other recommendations of the Lord O'Shaughnessy review of commercial clinical trials.

Andrew Stephenson: The Government will soon publish a full response to the Lord O’Shaughnessy independent review into commercial clinical trials.The response will include an update on progress and implementation of the initial five headline commitments and foundational actions that the Government made in May 2023 as well as all other recommendations in the review.

Pancreatic Cancer

Daisy Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will fund specialist pancreatic cancer roles in every Cancer Alliance.

Andrew Stephenson: There are no plans to fund specialist pancreatic cancer roles in every Cancer Alliance.Pancreatic cancer is difficult to diagnose due to its unspecific symptoms. NHS England plans to streamline cancer pathways to support diagnosis within 28 days by implementing non-symptom specific (NSS) pathways for patients who present with non-specific symptoms that can indicate several cancers, as well as implementing timed cancer pathways.Since 2019, Cancer Alliances have been developing new dedicated urgent diagnostic pathways for these patients so that every cancer patient with concerning, but non-specific symptoms gets the right tests at the right time in as few visits as possible. By March 2024, the NSS programme will achieve full population coverage across England for non-specific symptom pathways as set out in the 2023/24 NHS Planning Guidance.

Cancer: Screening

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she has taken to promote self examination for cancer.

Andrew Stephenson: Since Autumn 2020, NHS England has run the ‘Help Us, Help You’ (HUHY) campaigns, and it will continue to run them. The campaigns use a series of TV adverts, social media posts and billboards to promote and encourage people to get in touch with their general practitioner (GP) if they notice or are worried about symptoms that could be cancer.NHS England also funds community engagement events which share the same aim and works with partners to encourage body awareness and share information about cancer at moments during people’s everyday lives; for example, a recent partnership with Morrisons supermarket to include cancer messaging on their home-brand underwear labels.The NHS website outlines the importance of being aware of new or worrying symptoms in a person’s health and the importance of speaking to a GP to initiate investigations early. The relevant page is available at the following link:https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/cancer/symptoms/

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: Drugs

Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government is taking to tackle shortages in the ADHD medication supply.

Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government is taking to help strengthen global supply chains of ADHD medications to help prevent shortages in the supply of those medications.

Andrew Stephenson: We are aware of disruptions to the supply of medicines used for the management of Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), primarily driven by issues which have resulted in capacity constraints at key manufacturing sites.We understand how frustrating and distressing medicine shortages can be and we want to assure patients that we are working with the respective manufacturers to resolve the issues as soon as possible and to ensure patients have continuous access to ADHD medicines in the United Kingdom, in the short and long term. We have issued communications to the National Health Service to advise healthcare professionals on management of patients whilst there continue to be disruptions to supplies. Patients are advised to speak to their clinician regarding any concerns they have and to discuss the suitability of treatment with alternative medicines.

Motor Neurone Disease: Research

Damien Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what support his Department provides for research into motor neurone disease.

Andrew Stephenson: Government responsibility for delivering motor neurone disease (MND) research is shared between the Department of Health and Social Care, with research delivered by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, with research delivered via UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).The Government has committed to make at least £50 million available for MND research over the next five years, ending in March 2027. Around three-quarters of the £50 million pledged funding (£36.9 million) has now been allocated to cutting edge researchers by DHSC and DSIT, less than two years since the announcement. For the remainder of the £50 million, we continue to support researchers to apply for funding via the Medical Research Council and NIHR MND highlight notice.

Rheumatology

Sir George Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to increase the numbers of (a) nurses and (b) allied professionals specialising in rheumatology as a post registration option.

Sir George Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department plans to increase the number of (a) rheumatologists and (b) rheumatology specialist nurses in England over the next (i) 12 months, (ii) five years and (iii) 15 years.

Andrew Stephenson: The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan (LTWP) sets out plans for the biggest increase in training numbers in the National Health Service’s history to meet the challenge of a growing and ageing population over the next 15 years. There are currently 1,153 full time equivalent doctors working in the specialty of rheumatology. This is 142 (14%) more than in 2019.The LTWP aims to double the number of medical school places in England, to 10,000 a year, by 2028/29, and to 15,000 places a year by 2031/32. The LTWP commits to an adequate growth in foundation placement capacity, as those taking up these new places begin to graduate, and a commensurate increase in specialty training places that meets the demands of the NHS in the future. This will substantially increase the potential pipeline for rheumatologists and other medical specialties.The LTWP also sets out an ambition to almost double the number of adult nursing training places, taking the number of total places up to nearly 28,000 in 2028/29, and nearly 38,000 by 2031/32. The LTWP also includes the ambition to increase allied health professionals (AHPs) training places by 8% by 2024/25, and by 13% to 17,000 by 2028/29. Specialising in rheumatology is a post-registration option for nurses and allied health professionals and the LTWP expansion will increase the pool of nurses and AHP’s who wish to specialise in rheumatology.

Hospitals: Waiting Lists

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to reduce NHS waiting times.

Andrew Stephenson: We are taking action to reduce National Health Service waiting times by working towards the targets set out in the Elective Recovery Plan and providing the NHS with record levels of staffing and funding. To support elective recovery, we plan to spend more than £8 billion from 2022/23 to 2024/25, supported by a £5.9 billion investment in capital – for new beds, equipment and technology.  This funding could deliver the equivalent of around nine million more checks and procedures, and a significant part of this funding will be invested in staff – both in terms of capacity and skills. £2.3 billion was awarded at SR21 to transform diagnostic services over the next three years. Most of this will help increase the number of Community Diagnostic Centres (CDCs) up to 160 by March 2025, expanding and protecting elective planned diagnostic services. We are on track to meet our target to open 160 community diagnostic centres a year early. As at November 2023, there are 130 CDCs, which have delivered over 5 million additional diagnostic tests since July 2021. We are also transforming the way the NHS provides elective care by increasing activity through dedicated and protected surgical hubs, focusing on providing high volume low complexity surgery, as recommended by the Royal College of Surgeons of England. There are currently 95 elective surgical hubs that are operational across England as of 16 November 2023. These surgical hubs will help separate elective care facilities from urgent and emergency care.

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Health Services

Sir John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when she plans to publish the final myalgic encephalomyelitis delivery plan.

Andrew Stephenson: The Government will respond to its consultation on the cross-government Interim Delivery Plan on myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome and publish the final Plan in due course.

Pancreatic Cancer

Daisy Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of implementing an optimal care pathway for pancreatic cancer.

Andrew Stephenson: The Department does not currently have plans to make an assessment as NHS England already has work in place to improve the diagnosis, treatment and care of those with pancreatic cancer. NHS England’s ‘Getting it Right First Time’ (GIRFT) programme has appointed a team of five specialist clinicians to lead a national review into services for pancreatic cancer patients in England.The new workstream supports the delivery of the Optimal Care Pathway, a Pancreatic Cancer UK-led initiative which has brought together 300 health professionals and people affected to agree on how standards of diagnosis, treatment and care of those with pancreatic cancer and their families can be improved.

Surgery: Waiting Lists

Christian Wakeford: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people died whilst waiting for an operation in (a) Bury South constituency, (b) Greater Manchester and (c) England since 24 October 2022.

Andrew Stephenson: The data requested is not held.

Department of Health and Social Care: China

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether senior officials from her Department have travelled to China since January 2019.

Andrew Stephenson: No senior members of the Department have booked travel to China via the Departments central travel contract between January 2019 and October 2023.We have assumed that by Senior Officials you mean those that are above the grade SCS1.

Members: Correspondence

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when she plans to respond to the letter from the hon. Member for Shipley to her predecessor, dated 27 September 2023.

Andrew Stephenson: The Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Lord Markham) replied to the hon. Member on 20 November 2023.

Cystic Fibrosis: Drugs

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will take steps to make (a) Orkambi, (b) Symkevi and (c) Kaftrio available for everyone with cystic fibrosis.

Andrew Stephenson: Since 2019, patients in the National Health Service have been able to access Orkambi, Symkevi and Kaftrio through an interim access agreement between NHS England, the company (Vertex), the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and the UK Cystic Fibrosis Trust. The agreement makes the medicines available for a limited time at a reduced price, while further information has been collected to inform a NICE appraisal. On 15 November 2023, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) approved a new licence extension and children as young as two years old with cystic fibrosis are now eligible to receive Kaftrio through the interim access agreement. NICE is currently consulting on its draft recommendations on the use of Orkambi, Symkevi and Kaftrio and has not yet published its final recommendations. NICE continues to work with stakeholders to address the issues highlighted by the committee in the draft guidance. Under the terms of the interim access agreement for the cystic fibrosis medicines, Orkambi, Symkevi and Kaftrio, eligible children and adults with cystic fibrosis can continue to receive ongoing treatment and be initiated onto treatment with these medicines, as clinically appropriate, while NICE concludes its evaluation.

NHS: Research

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of integrating (a) clinical and (b) applied research with clinical practice.

Andrew Stephenson: In March 2021, the Government published ‘Saving and Improving Lives: The Future of UK Clinical Research Delivery’. Embedding research delivery in the National Health Service and all health and care settings is a key theme of this vision and an aim of the National Institute for Health and Care Research, which is funded by the Department.The Health and Care Act 2022 includes a requirement that “Each integrated care board must, in the exercise of its functions, facilitate or otherwise promote - (a) research on matters relevant to the health service, and (b) the use in the health service of evidence obtained from research.” NHS England has issued guidance for integrated care systems (ICSs) on maximising the benefits of research. This guidance is available at the following link: https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/maximising-the-benefits-of-research/ ICSs also have a duty to include research in their joint forward plans and annual reports and NHS England has a duty to assess that these duties have been discharged.

Department of Health and Social Care: Written Questions

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many times his Department answered Named Day written parliamentary questions stating that it would not be possible to answer a question within the usual time period, in the last 12 months.

Andrew Stephenson: The Department provides a holding reply as a courtesy to hon. Members if a Named Day written parliamentary question is not expected to be answered on the named date. In the period 1 November 2022 to 31 October 2023, the Department received a total of 2,980 Named Day questions, out of which we issued 1,115 holding replies of the nature specified by the hon. Member.

NHS: Research

Wes Streeting: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress NHS England has made on expanding the scope of the National Contract Value Review to include (a) early phase studies and (b) advanced therapy medicinal products.

Andrew Stephenson: NHS England has made progress on expanding the scope of the National Contract Value Review (NCVR) by implementing Stage 2 from October 2023, which eliminates local negotiation with National Health Service organisations, improving commercial study setup timelines. NHS England and the Devolved Administrations are committed to extending NCVR to include the setup of Early Phase (phase I and IIa) and Advanced Therapeutic Medicinal Products (ATMPs) studies. Work has begun to introduce NCVR in a limited number of ATMP studies to test and refine the process.

Paramedical Staff: Training

Wes Streeting: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many students were accepted onto paramedic graduate courses provided by Health Education England beginning in Autumn 2023.

Andrew Stephenson: The information requested has not been validated.

Hospitals: Construction

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the presence of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete in the NHS estate on his Department's New Hospital Programme; and whether he plans to reprioritise that Programme.

Andrew Stephenson: NHS England has issued guidance for trusts nationally on how to establish the presence of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) in their estate. There is ongoing engagement with trusts at a national and regional level to ensure RAAC is identified across the National Health Service estate. Where structural surveys identify RAAC in their estate, trusts are inducted into the national remediation programme.The Government announced on 25 May 2023 that five RAAC schemes would be added into the New Hospital Programme and will be rebuilt by 2030 in addition to two RAAC hospitals already in the Programme. These schemes have been prioritised within the Programme to protect patient and staff safety.

Doctors: Misconduct

Sir John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has had recent discussions with the General Medical Council on how many doctors have been struck off the medical register since 2010.

Sir John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has had recent discussions with the General Medical Council on how many doctors have been successfully sued since 2010.

Andrew Stephenson: My Rt. Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, has not had any recent discussions with the General Medical Council on how many doctors have been successfully sued since 2010; or how many doctors have been struck off the medical register since 2010.

Neurodiversity: Diagnosis

Duncan Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people were diagnosed with (a) autism, (b) ADHD and (c) dyslexia in the East of England in the last five years.

Maria Caulfield: The information requested is not held centrally but may be held locally by individual National Health Service trusts or commissioners.

Eating Disorders: Health Services

Jonathan Gullis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data her Department holds on the average length of time for which adults had been waiting for (a) diagnosis and (b) treatment for eating disorders in (i) 2019, (ii) 2020, (iii) 2021, (iv) 2022 and (v) 2023.

Maria Caulfield: The requested data is not held centrally.

General Practitioners: Mental Health Services

Jonathan Gullis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information her Department holds on the number of GP surgeries that offer appointments with a mental health nurse.

Maria Caulfield: The information requested on the number of GP surgeries offering appointments with a mental health nurse is not held.There are many roles within primary care multi-disciplinary teams that offer mental health support including community mental health nurses, mental health and wellbeing practitioners, applied psychologists and social prescribing link workers.

Gynaecology: Waiting Lists

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to reduce waiting times for NHS gynaecology services in (a) Rotherham and (b) the rest of England.

Maria Caulfield: We are taking action to recover elective services, including for patients waiting for National Health Service gynaecology services in Rotherham and England, by working towards the targets set out in the Elective Recovery Plan and providing the NHS with record levels of staffing and funding.  £2.3 billionn was awarded at Spending Review 2021 to transform diagnostic services over the next three years. Most of this will help increase the number of Community Diagnostic Centres (CDCs) up to 160 by March 2025, expanding and protecting elective planned diagnostic services. This includes an established spoke, at Montagu Hospital CDC, to which General Practices in Rotherham constituency can refer patients for key diagnostic checks, tests and scans. The funding will also be used to increase capacity for imaging and improving digital diagnostics. We are also transforming the way the NHS provides elective care by increasing activity through dedicated and protected surgical hubs, focusing on providing high volume low complexity surgery, as recommended by the Royal College of Surgeons of England. There are currently 95 elective surgical hubs that are operational across England as of 16 November 2023. These surgical hubs will help separate elective care facilities from urgent and emergency care. This includes an elective surgical hub at Sheffield Teaching Hospital, where patients with gynaecological conditions can access surgical treatments. We are also investing £25 million in women’s health hubs between 2023 and 2025 so that women can get better access to care for essential services such as gynaecology, menstrual problems, contraception and the menopause.

Lead: Health Hazards

Mr Ranil Jayawardena: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she made of the impact of lead pollution on (a) children's and (b) other people's health.

Maria Caulfield: Exposure to lead can result in a range of adverse health effects, including effects on the cardiovascular, immune, reproductive and neurological systems. Unborn and young children are particularly at risk as lead exposure can adversely affect development of the nervous system.Several measures have been implemented in the United Kingdom to reduce exposure to lead, including the phasing out of lead in paint, petrol, food cans and water pipes. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) runs the Lead Exposure in Children Surveillance System (LEICSS), for reporting cases of elevated lead exposure in England. The aim of LEICSS is to facilitate public health action in individual cases, to reduce the effects of lead exposure.Information on the health effects of lead is available at the following link:  https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/lead-properties-incident-management-and-toxicology.

Care Workers: Minimum Wage

Wes Streeting: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number and proportion of care workers earning the minimum wage.

Helen Whately: All care workers aged 23 years old and over are entitled to the National Living Wage. The National Minimum Wage applies to workers who are school leaving age and aged 22 years old and under.The Department has made no estimate; however, we commission Skills for Care to provide information and intelligence on adult social care providers and their workforce. Skills for Care reported that in March 2023, 17% of care workers in the independent sector were paid at the National Living Wage, which was £9.50 at the time, corresponding to 140,000 filled posts.

Department for Science, Innovation and Technology

Department for Science, Innovation and Technology: Disclosure of Information

Sir Chris Bryant: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, when she plans to publish her Department's transparency returns for Ministers' gifts, hospitality, meetings and travel for February to March, April to June and July to September.

Michelle Donelan: The Department's transparency returns for Ministers' gifts, hospitality, meetings and travel for February to March and July to September will be published shortly. The return for April to June was published on 21st November 2023 here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dsit-ministerial-gifts-hospitality-travel-meetings-april-to-june-2023

Artificial Intelligence: Public Sector

Peter Kyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, pursuant to the Answer of 13 November to Question 334 on Artificial Intelligence: Public Sector, if she will provide a table of all new uses of AI in the public sector her Department has identified as of 14 November 2023; and whether they have been adopted.

Saqib Bhatti: Each public sector organisation leads on identifying new uses of AI specific to them, and therefore the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) does not identify and track these. DSIT itself has not adopted or deployed any AI tools, it is working to use technologies such as automation and AI innovatively to improve outcomes and efficiency, but we are in the pilot stage at the moment.

Social Media: Antisemitism

Peter Kyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to the Answer of 7 November to Question 333 on Social Media: Antisemitism, if she will publish the written responses of the social media companies.

Saqib Bhatti: The Government agreed to keep written summaries confidential. These summaries contain commercially sensitive information, as well as information about special measures put in place to tackle content related to the conflict, which could be exploited by bad actors if published.However, the Government has been clear with platforms that they should be adequately protecting their users. The Government is in regular contact with platforms as part of the process of closely monitoring their responses. The Government also convened social media platforms and community groups to facilitate direct feedback about the impact of this content.

5G: Havering

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what information her Department holds on the number of 5G mobile signal towers that have been constructed in (a) Romford constituency and (b) the London Borough of Havering.

Sir John Whittingdale: 5G network rollout and the management of masts, mobile sites and network infrastructure is a matter for the mobile network operators, and this information is not held by the Government. However, local authorities must grant planning permission or prior approval for building masts and therefore some local authorities keep mast site registers.

Further Education and Higher Education: Social Media

Cat Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what information Special Advisors in his Department have gathered on (a) the political views and (b) related social media posts of staff working in further and higher education settings; and how much money from the public purse has been expended on those activities.

Cat Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, who authorised the reported gathering of information on (a) the political views and (b) related social media posts of members of the UKRI EDI board; and how much money from the public purse was expended in the process of gathering that information.

Andrew Griffith: After concerns were raised about the social media activity of a member of a public body advisory panel, the Secretary of State requested information on whether other members of the group were posting in a manner that might come into conflict with the Nolan Principles. Minimal time was taken by special advisers to gather information already in the public domain. Information is not gathered by special advisers on the views or social media of staff working in higher and further education, except in exceptional circumstances, such as this, where it supports the Secretary of State to reach an informed view on a serious matter.

Further Education and Higher Education: Social Media

Cat Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what information officials in her Department have gathered on (a) the political views and (b) related social media posts of staff working in higher and further education settings; and how much money from the public purse has been expended on those activities.

Cat Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, how many staff working in higher and further education settings have had information gathered on them as part of investigations into their political views; and how much money from the public purse has been expended on such activities.

Andrew Griffith: When individuals are recommended for an appointment in a public role, departments may carry out due diligence, which involves gathering publicly available information. This may include a search against the insolvency register, a search against the register of disqualified directors and some basic internet searches to check for any undeclared conflicts of interest or other issues around the suitability of the appointment that should be considered. In line with the Civil Service Code, there are no other circumstances where officials conduct investigations into the political views of individuals.

World Radiocommunication Conference

Henry Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps she is taking to (a) prepare for the World radiocommunication conference and (b) protect the UK's interests in space at that conference.

Sir John Whittingdale: I recognise the importance of the decisions of the World Radiocommunications Conference to UK industry, especially the space sector. Government and Ofcom have developed our negotiating positions since the last conference in 2019, balancing the interests of multiple operators, networks and services in both space and terrestrial environments. UK stakeholders have been given the opportunity to influence our approach and Ofcom consulted in 2022. At the conference, Ofcom will lead the UK delegation which will include officials from departments and agencies with spectrum interests. This includes DSIT, the Ministry of Defence, UK Space Agency, and the Met Office.

Mobile Broadband

Sir Chris Bryant: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what comparative assessment she has made of how the UK compares to other European nations on its proportion of (a) 4G and (b) 5G coverage.

Sir John Whittingdale: Coverage methodologies and metrics vary across countries, so it is difficult to make like for like comparisons. For ease of comparison, we have used premises coverage for 4G, which is available outside 99.9% of UK premises. However, the Shared Rural Network programme will help extend coverage to 95% of the UK landmass. According to the most recent data from the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, the UK compares favourably with population coverage across Europe, and slightly ahead of comparator countries including France at 99%, Spain at 99.6% and Germany at 99.8%. Basic, non-standalone 5G is available outside 85% of UK premises. According to data from the EU Observatory, the UK’s 5G rollout progress is above the EU average which stands at 81% population coverage. However, the UK falls slightly behind the average of comparator countries' non-standalone 5G progress with Italy at 99%, Germany at 93% and France at 88%. The Wireless Infrastructure Strategy, published earlier this year, announced the Government’s vision for wireless connectivity and shared a new ambition for nationwide coverage of higher quality, standalone 5G in all populated areas by 2030.

Northern Ireland Office

Honours: Northern Ireland

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, if he will make an assessment of the potential (a) merits of restoring The Most Illustrious Order of Saint Patrick as an active chivalric order and (b) impact of such a policy on the state of the Union.

Mr Steve Baker: The UK Government is not at present considering the restoration of The Order of St Patrick. As constituted, the order does not provide a suitable vehicle for recognition as the requisite statutes have not been updated since the nineteenth century. Nominations for existing honours are open to all citizens within the four nations of the United Kingdom.

Department for Education

Advanced British Standard

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many officials in her Department have been reassigned from other projects to work on the development of the Advanced British Standard; and what the names of those other projects are.

Damian Hinds: Delivering a world class education to all pupils is one of Government’s top priorities. The Advanced British Standard (ABS) is a cross cutting reform which will affect a number of different areas of policy across the Department, and as such officials from a range of policy teams, with a variety of skills and experience, have been brought together to develop and deliver the ABS. The Department has made huge strides in the last decade in driving up educational standards and improving outcomes for young people and will continue to utilise expertise in the Department to do this.

Teachers: Crimes of Violence

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to support teachers who experience violence from a student (a) in early years, (b) of primary school age and (c) of secondary school age.

Damian Hinds: No teacher should feel unsafe or face violence or abuse in the workplace. The Department is clear that all school employers have a duty to protect the health, safety and welfare of their employees. The Department has taken decisive action to improve pupils’ behaviour and to ensure that all schools are calm, safe and supportive environments where pupils and staff can work in safety and are respected.The Department supports head teachers in taking proportionate and measured steps to ensure good behaviour in schools. To support schools to do so, the Department has strengthened the behaviour in schools guidance, which is the primary source of help and support for schools on developing and implementing a behaviour policy that can create a school culture which has high expectations of all pupils.The Department trusts school leaders to develop tailored policies that reflect their school’s individual contexts and needs, across all phases. This guidance outlines effective strategies that will encourage good behaviour and the sanctions that will be imposed for misbehaviour. The Department also backs head teachers to use exclusions when required, as a last resort. This includes using permanent exclusion where allowing the pupil to remain in school would seriously harm the education or welfare of the pupil or others in the school.The Government is providing £10 million of funding for the behaviour hubs programmes to enable schools and multi academy trusts with exemplary behaviour cultures and practices to work in partnership with those that want to improve their behaviour culture.

Special Educational Needs: Private Education

Neil O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of pupils are in independent special schools; and of that total how many pupils are in independent schools whose fees are not paid by a local authority.

Damian Hinds: A total of 23,570 pupils attended independent special schools in England in 2022/23. This is 0.26% of the 9,073,832 pupils in England that year. There are a high proportion of pupils with Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans attending independent schools. There were 21,943 pupils at independent special schools in England in 2022/23 who had a EHC plan. The Department does not hold data on how many of the pupils attending independent schools have fees that are not paid by a local authority.

Pupil Exclusions: Mental Health

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the strength of the correlation between school exclusions and children who have experienced trauma.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make it her policy to end the use of (a) detention, (b) isolation and (c) exclusion for school children who have experienced childhood trauma.

Damian Hinds: The Department does not hold the data on what proportion of children being excluded from school have experienced trauma. However, the Department does publish data on the proportion and characteristics of pupil excluded from schools in England. The most recent data available is for the 2021/22 school year, and is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/permanent-and-fixed-period-exclusions-in-england#dataBlock-4f294de1-5a99-43ff-df43-08db35ba7ff4-tables.Creating a culture with high expectations of behaviour is a priority for the Government. The Department supports head teachers in using suspension and permanent exclusion as a sanction where warranted as part of creating calm, safe, and supportive environments where pupils and staff can work in safety and are respected.

Department for Education: Women

Carol Monaghan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of SCS2 civil servants on full-time contracts in her Department are women.

Carol Monaghan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of civil servants on temporary contracts in her Department are women.

Damian Hinds: As of the 31 of October 2023, the proportion of officials in the Department that are graded as senior civil servant 2 and are women on full time equivalent contracts is 64.9%. This figure was calculated by dividing the number of women at senior civil servant 2 grade on full time contracts by the total number of staff at senior civil servant 2 grade on full time contracts. This figure includes the Department, as well as its executive agencies – Education and Skills Funding Agency, Teaching Regulation Agency, Standard and Testing Agency.The official public sector employment statistics published in June 2023 by the Office for National Statistics include data on the proportion of staff on temporary contracts who are women. These figures can be accessed at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/publicsectorpersonnel/datasets/publicsectoremploymentreferencetable.In 2022/23, more than half of new entrants to the civil service were women (54.1%). In 2021/22, 51.6% of new entrants and 53.9% of promotions to the senior civil service were women.

Education: Stockport

Navendu Mishra: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to provide additional funding to Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council for education services.

Damian Hinds: The Central School Services Block (CSSB) funds Local Authorities to carry out central education services on behalf of all pupils in maintained schools and academies. The CSSB funding comprises two distinct parts: funding for ongoing responsibilities and funding for historic commitments. In the 2023/24 financial year, Stockport received a total of £2,019,683 in CSSB funding through the Dedicated Schools Grant and its provisional CSSB allocation for 2024/25 through the National Funding Formula is £1,971,361. Final allocations for 2024/25 will be published as usual in December within the Dedicated Schools Grant.

Religion: Education

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department is taking steps to ensure that regulations on the teaching of religious education are the same for individual academies and multi-academy trusts; and if she will make a statement.

Damian Hinds: Religious education (RE) is an essential part of a school’s curriculum and remains a compulsory subject in all state funded schools in England, including academies, for all pupils up to the age of 18.There are no regulations relating to teaching of RE. The statutory duty for maintained schools to teach the subject is set out in primary legislation. This requirement is mirrored in funding agreements for mainstream academies and multi-academy trusts.

Logistics: Curriculum

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps to include reference to (a) warehousing, and (b) logistics in the National Curriculum.

Damian Hinds: The Department has no policy on the study of warehousing or logistics. The National Curriculum, which the Department reformed in 2014 to set world-class standards across all subjects, focuses on the key knowledge that schools should teach. In the Schools White Paper, published last year, the Department committed to not make any changes to the National Curriculum for the remainder of this Parliament. This was to embed the major 2014 curriculum reforms and to provide stability for schools and pupils following the pandemic.The National Curriculum focuses on the key knowledge that should be taught. Within a broad statutory framework, set out in subject specific programmes of study, schools have considerable flexibility to organise the content and delivery of the curriculum to meet the needs of pupils and to take account of new developments, societal changes, or topical issues.Maintained schools in England are legally required to follow the National Curriculum as a piece of statutory guidance. The National Curriculum is just one element in the education of every child; there is time and space in the school day and in each week, term and year to go beyond the National Curriculum specifications.In addition to meeting their statutory duties, schools are also free to include other subjects or topics they deem relevant for their pupils, as part of the school’s wider curriculum. Consequently, there is room for schools to incorporate warehousing and logistics in their curriculum should they wish.Academies and free schools have greater freedom and autonomy in how they operate for areas such as the curriculum, but they are expected to teach a curriculum that is comparable in breadth and ambition to the National Curriculum.

Religion: Education

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to take steps to fund network hubs for Religious Education; and if she will make a statement.

Damian Hinds: Religious education (RE) is an essential part of a school’s curriculum and remains a compulsory subject in all state funded schools, including academies, to all pupils up to the age of 18. RE develops an individual’s knowledge and understanding of the religions and beliefs which form part of contemporary society, as well as serving to inform their own values and behaviour.Although the Department has not been involved in the establishment of the RE Hubs project, the Department welcomes its work to support teachers and practitioners. The Department currently has no plans to provide funding for the project. The Department does, however, provide support for RE in other ways.The Department is offering a £10,000 bursary for RE trainee teachers starting Initial Teacher Training courses in the 2024/25 academic year. The Department has published this information on the ‘Get Into Teaching’ website and will be marketing the offer to prospective teachers through other channels.To ensure high standards of RE teaching, resources will be procured by Oak National Academy during the second tranche of its work. Oak will work closely with the sector and utilise sector experience when producing new materials for RE. This will ensure that high quality lessons are available nationwide, benefitting both teachers and pupils, should schools opt to use them.To support high standards of RE teaching in all schools, the Department is continuing to offer eight week subject knowledge enhancement (SKE) courses in the 2023/24 academic year, for candidates who have the potential to become outstanding teacher but need to increase their subject knowledge. The eight week SKE course, available in RE, can be undertaken on a full time or part time basis, but must be completed before qualified teacher status can be recommended and awarded. Eligible candidates could be entitled to a SKE bursary of £175 per week to support them financially whilst completing their SKE course. More information on these courses is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/subject-knowledge-enhancement-an-introduction.

Music: Education

Wera Hobhouse: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to provide additional funding to music hubs for the increased employer contributions to the teachers’ pension scheme.

Damian Hinds: Music Hubs have a vital role in ensuring pupils across the country can access high quality music education. I value the many achievements that the existing Music Hub network has made since 2012. As part of the Music Hubs Investment Programme, including the re-competition of Music Hub Lead Organisations which is currently taking place, Arts Council England informed potential bidders on 15 June 2023 that the Department is providing a core revenue grant totalling around £76 million from September 2024 for academic year 2024/25, alongside a new capital grant totalling £25 million. There are no plans to change the revenue grant to reflect teacher pension scheme costs, and any subsequent changes to the grant from 2025/26 onwards is subject to the next spending review.The grant funding has consistently provided, on average, around 40% of a hubs total income and music hubs have been using this to leverage other income streams over the lifespan of the programme, this will also be the case for the new programme from September 2024. As set out in the investment programme, organisations applying to become lead organisations will need to evidence how at least 50% of a hub’s total income should come from sources other than the revenue grant provided by the Department by the end of the current funding period.

Teachers: Gloucestershire

Richard Graham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many music teachers there are in Gloucestershire; and how many there were in 2010.

Damian Hinds: Information on the school workforce in England, including the number of subject teachers in state funded secondary schools, is collected each November as part of the annual School Workforce Census. Information is published in the ‘School Workforce in England’ statistical publication, available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.The number of hours spent teaching music and other subjects nationally in a typical week for the 2011/12 to 2022/23 academic years (full time period available), is available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/8a899462-7a12-4c60-4df6-08dbdfa6a426.As of 2022/23, there were 75 music teachers (any teacher timetabled to teach music) at Key Stages 3, 4, and 5 in the 36 state funded secondary schools in Gloucestershire that reported data on subjects taught. There were a further five schools that did not report such data. An equivalent figure for 2010/11 is not available.Timetabled teaching is reported for a typical week in November, as determined by the school. It does not cover an entire year of teaching. If there are variations in timetabling across the year, this is not covered in the data available to the department.Subject taught is only collected from secondary schools that use electronic timetabling software that can produce data in the format required. Data is then weighted to provide national totals.

Secondary Education: Truancy

Sir John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the implications for her policies of trends in the level of truancy in secondary schools since 2020.

Damian Hinds: Improving attendance remains a top priority for the Department. The Department is implementing a comprehensive attendance strategy to ensure that absence is minimised, and rates are returned to pre-pandemic levels as soon as possible.In 2022, the Department published stronger expectations of schools, trusts, governing bodies and Local Authorities in the ‘Working together to improve school attendance’ guidance. This guidance is available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1099677/Working_together_to_improve_school_attendance.pdf. The Department now expects all schools to appoint a champion, and Local Authorities and schools are to agree individual plans for persistently absent children. The Department has expanded attendance hubs supporting 800 schools with over 400,000 pupils. To help identify children at risk of persistent absence and to enable early intervention, the Department established a timelier flow of pupil level attendance data through the daily attendance data collection. 86% of state funded schools are now signed up to this.Across all phases, around 380,000 fewer pupils were persistently absent or not attending in 2022/23 than in 2021/22. Daily data for 2022/23 show school absence of 9.3% in secondary schools, down from 10.0% absent or not attending school for covid related reasons in 2021/22. Further absence data from the School Census is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/pupil-absence-in-schools-in-england.

Schools: Zero Hours Contracts

Sir Robert Buckland: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to her Department's publication entitled 2022 School Workforce Census, published 8 June 2023, whether her Department has had discussions with any of the secondary schools that reported zero hours of religious education in Year 11 in the 2022 census.

Damian Hinds: The School Workforce Census collects information from a large sample of secondary schools in England for a typical week. This identifies hours taught of a subject, year group taught to, and the teacher. Data provided by schools is captured by their individual electronic timetabling systems. Results are weighted to produce national estimates but are not intended to be used as a means of monitoring compliance with the duty to teach religious education (RE), particularly as there may be other RE teaching time in schools that has not been recorded as schools may have allocated it under other subjects.Following publication in June this year of 2022 census data, the department has not had discussion with schools that reported zero hours of religious education in Year 11 in the sample period.

Education: Gloucestershire

Richard Graham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to provide additional funding to Gloucestershire County Council for education services.

Damian Hinds: The Central School Services Block (CSSB) funds local authorities to carry out central functions on behalf of all pupils in maintained schools and academies. The CSSB funding comprises two distinct parts: funding for ongoing responsibilities, and for historic commitments. In 2023/24, Gloucestershire received a total of £3,077,365 in CSSB funding, and its provisional CSSB allocation for 2024/25 through the National Funding Formula is £3,197,919. Final allocations for 2024/25 will be published in December within the Dedicated Schools Grant.

St Leonard's Catholic School

Mary Kelly Foy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the presence of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete at St Leonard's Catholic School has been raised at Gold Command meetings; and what steps have been taken in relation to the school on that matter.

Damian Hinds: The overall purpose of Gold Command meetings is to set the strategic direction and make key decisions relating to the Government’s response to RAAC in schools and colleges. This may include discussion on the mitigation plans for individual schools and colleges with confirmed RAAC.St Leonard’s Catholic School has an assigned project director working alongside the trust and school leadership team, providing support and direction to ensure all children returned to face to face education as quickly as possible. This was achieved on 30 October 2023. Additionally, a working group of officials, school leadership and trust personnel meet regularly to continue to mitigate the effect of RAAC for pupils and staff.

Special Educational Needs: Gloucestershire

Richard Graham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many supported internships for people with high special educational needs have been made available for 16-19 year olds in Gloucestershire.

Robert Halfon: The SEN2 data publication indicates how many young people up to the age of 25 are enrolled on supported internships in Gloucestershire in 2021, 2022, and 2023. The data can found at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/aa3ee401-2f03-4901-4e0e-08dbdfa6a426.The department is not able to specify how many of these placements were for 16–19-year-olds. The department does not hold data on how many supported internship placements Gloucestershire made available.​In February 2022, the department announced that it is investing up to £18 million over the next three years to build capacity in the Supported Internships programme, aiming to double the number of Supported Internships to give more young people with an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan the skills to secure and sustain paid employment.In the 2023 Spring Budget, my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced up to £3 million to pilot extending Supported Internships to young people with learning difficulties and disabilities without EHC plans by March 2025.

Women and Equalities

Veganism

Henry Smith: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, with reference to page 22 of the Vegan Society’s report entitled, Catering for Everyone: How far are councils catering to vegans, published in September 2023, if she will make an assessment of the implications for her policies of the report's findings on the level of recognition by local authorities of veganism as a protected characteristic.

Stuart Andrew: Ethical veganism has previously been found to be a philosophical belief under the Equality Act 2010 by an employment tribunal, in an employment context. While this is not binding in other cases, all employers and service providers, including local authorities, should have regard to the differing dietary needs of people who they provide meals to, whether these are determined by health considerations, religious or philosophical belief. They should be aware that employees or service users may bring claims under the Act, where they consider they have been treated less favourably because of their belief in ethical veganism.In addition, councils are subject to the Public Sector Equality Duty which requires them, in carrying out their functions, to have due regard to the need to achieve the objectives set out under s149 of the Equality Act 2010 to:(a) eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct that is prohibited by or under the Equality Act 2010; (b) advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it and (c) foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it. Specific duties, set out in regulations, ensure transparency, and assist in the performance of this duty.A person who believes that they have experienced discrimination because of a philosophical belief can take their case to a tribunal or court. Before doing so, they may wish to contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS), a Government-funded helpline, which is the initial point of contact for anyone with discrimination concerns. The EASS provides free bespoke advice and in-depth support to individuals with discrimination concerns. The EASS also supports individuals to resolve issues using alternative informal dispute resolution and can advise you on what are the next steps to take when you feel you have been discriminated against. The EASS can also advise people on their options and can be contacted through their website at www.equalityadvisoryservice.com, by telephone on 0808 800 0082 or text phone on 0808 800 0084.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Deposit Return Schemes: Devolution

Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions he has had with his relevant (a) Welsh, (b) Scottish and (c) Northern Irish counterparts on the potential merits of aligning the scope of deposit return schemes in those nations.

Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent progress the Government has made towards establishing a deposit return scheme framework that is consistent across the devolved nations in line with the provisions of the (a) Resources and waste: provisional common framework and (b) Internal Market Act 2020.

Rebecca Pow: In May 2023, UK Government published a position statement setting out that DRS’s across the UK should be interoperable to reduce complexity for businesses and consumers, and to avoid unnecessary barriers to trade. Defra is working closely with devolved administrations at pace on the next steps to deliver interoperable schemes across the UK.

Packaging: Recycling

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the planned implementation of (a) a deposit return scheme, (b) an extended producer responsibility scheme and (c) other changes to packaging recovery notes on food and drink businesses.

Rebecca Pow: Defra has published regulatory impact assessments of the impact of the Collection and Packaging Reforms, including the impact on business and consumers. For the DRS, the 2021 consultation stage impact assessment can be found at: https://consult.defra.gov.uk/environment/consultation-on-introducing-a-drs/supporting_documents/Impact%20Assessment.pdf. A final impact assessment will be published alongside the regulations. For Packaging Extended Producer Responsibility, the most recent assessment can be found in the 2022 final stage impact assessment: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1063588/epr-final-impact-assessment.pdf. An updated impact assessment will be published alongside the regulations.

Recycling: Research

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to (a) commission and (b) publish research on the impact of the circular economy on business and consumers.

Rebecca Pow: In July 2023 we published Maximising Resources, Minimising Waste which embeds our circular economy approach by setting out our priorities for action to manage resources and waste in accordance with the waste hierarchy across seven key sectors. As with existing policies, any new policy proposed in this programme will be subject to public consultation and impact assessment which considers the individual and cumulative impacts on public expenditure, the cost to business including small and medium-sized enterprises, and consumer choice and affordability.

Joint Air Quality Unit

Afzal Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Joint Air Quality Unit; and whether the Government has plans to (a) review and (b) expand that Unit.

Robbie Moore: The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs/Department for Transport Joint Air Quality Unit (JAQU) exists to deliver compliance with legal limits for nitrogen dioxide in the shortest possible time. The Secretary of State has not made an assessment of JAQU’s effectiveness and there are no current plans to review or expand the unit.

Metals: Recycling

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department has taken to prevent plastic contamination in (a) steel and (b) other metals exported for recycling.

Rebecca Pow: Under UK legislation on shipments of waste most non-hazardous waste metals, including steel, can be exported for recycling under green list controls if they are clean and sorted, with minimal contamination, and only if the receiving country has indicated it is willing to receive such waste. Where contamination levels are greater than the minimal, the waste can only be exported if prior consent has been received from the relevant UK competent authority and the equivalent in the country of destination. Consent will only be provided if it is clear how the waste will be treated and recycled appropriately in the country of destination.The UK Competent Authorities undertake intelligence led, risk-based checks on waste destined for export to ensure that they comply with our legislation. This includes checks to ensure that rules on contamination levels are being adhered to.

Sewage: Mid Bedfordshire

Alistair Strathern: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to reduce sewage discharges in Mid Bedfordshire constituency.

Rebecca Pow: Last year the Government launched the original Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan (SODRP). Following consultation, the government published an expanded SODRP to cover 100% of overflows in England, which will drive £60 billion capital investment by 2050 – the largest infrastructure investment in water company history. In Mid Bedfordshire, the Environment Agency is working with Anglian Water Services (AWS) to reduce sewage pollution through AWS’s Pollution Incident Reduction Plan (PIRP). There are currently 23 schemes related to reducing or improving sewage discharges in Mid Bedfordshire which are due to be completed by 31 March 2025. Future schemes are currently being discussed for the next Price Review period, from 2025 to 2030.

Department for Culture, Media and Sport

Sports: Young People

Damien Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to increase youth participation in sport.

Stuart Andrew: Sport and physical activity are incredibly important for our physical and mental health and this government is committed to ensuring every child, no matter their background or ability, should be able to play sport and be active.That is why in ‘Get Active: A strategy for the future of sport and physical activity’ we introduce an ambition that all children should meet the Chief Medical Officers’ guidelines on physical activity, with a target of getting 1 million more active children by 2030.Schools play a key role in allowing all children to have high quality opportunities to take part in PE and sport, setting them up for a lifetime of physical activity. In July we published an update to the School Sport and Activity Action Plan. This builds on the announcement we made in March that set out new ambitions for equal access to PE and sport, with guidance on how to deliver 2 hours of quality PE a week, alongside over £600 million funding for the Primary PE and Sport Premium and School Games Organiser network.Outside of the school day, the £57 million Opening School Facilities programme will support the most inactive young people to access facilities that will enable them to play sport and take physical exercise. By opening school sport facilities, including swimming pools, disparities in access to opportunities seen between socio-economic groups will begin to be tackled through the programme. We are also investing over £300 million in grassroots football and multi-sport facilities across the UK by 2025 which will further support youth participation in sport.

Football: Ethnic Groups

Thangam Debbonaire: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to increase black representation in the football profession.

Stuart Andrew: The Government supports calls for further action to be taken on a range of issues in the domestic game, including equality, diversity and inclusion. We welcome the industry’s ongoing efforts to improve transparency and its commitment to provide equity and fair opportunities for all. Since the publication of the Fan-Led Review, the football leagues and the Football Association (FA) have introduced enhanced equality requirements for football clubs.The Government acknowledges that there is still more progress to be made and will continue to work with the leagues, the FA, and other organisations to encourage reform where appropriate.It is ultimately for football’s national governing body, the FA, to decide on the specific aims and appropriate initiatives to increase diversity and inclusion in the sport.

Football: Ethnic Groups

Thangam Debbonaire: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the report entitled Black Representation in English Professional Football published by the Black Footballers Partnership in January 2023.

Stuart Andrew: The Government supports calls for further action to be taken on a range of issues in the domestic game, including equality, diversity and inclusion. We welcome the industry’s ongoing efforts to improve transparency and its commitment to provide equity and fair opportunities for all. Since the publication of the Fan-Led Review, the football leagues and the Football Association (FA) have introduced enhanced equality requirements for football clubs.The Government acknowledges that there is still more progress to be made and will continue to work with the leagues, the FA, and other organisations to encourage reform where appropriate.It is ultimately for football’s national governing body, the FA, to decide on the specific aims and appropriate initiatives to increase diversity and inclusion in the sport.

Department for Energy Security and Net Zero

Lighting

Claire Hanna: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that light-sensitive people will continue to have access to non-LED lightbulbs following the implementation of minimum energy performance standards for lightbulbs.

Graham Stuart: The existing Ecodesign regulations which set the minimum energy performance standards for lighting products already contain an exemption which allows light-sensitive people access to non-LEDs via a medical prescription. As part of our proposals to update the minimum energy performance standards for lighting products, the Government consulted on an amendment to the exemption which would enable light-sensitive people to access non-LED lightbulbs more easily. The Government response will be published in due course.

Energy: Consumption

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if she will make an assessment with the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology of the potential impact of AI-powered services on trends in the level of energy consumption.

Graham Stuart: The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero is monitoring the published literature into the risk of increased energy consumption from AI-powered services. Despite its energy usage, AI can be used to enhance efficiency and reduce overall carbon emissions.

Renewable Energy: Community Development

Peter Aldous: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, with reference to the oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero during Consideration of Lords message on the Energy Bill [Lords] on 18 October 2023, Official Report, column 352, what his planned timetable is for the consultation on barriers to developing community energy projects.

Graham Stuart: The Government is working with the Community Energy Contact Group on the content of the annual report and consultation. Until these discussions have concluded, the Government is unable to outline a definitive timeline.

Renewable Energy: Community Development

Simon Fell: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what her expected timeline is on when her Department will launch its consultation on community energy.

Graham Stuart: The Government is working with the Community Energy Contact Group on the content of the annual report and consultation. Until these discussions have concluded, the Government is unable to outline a definitive timeline.

Renewable Energy: Finance

Kenny MacAskill: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the contract for difference scheme.

Graham Stuart: Since 2014, the Contracts for Difference scheme has proven itself highly effective at driving deployment of large-scale renewables while rapidly reducing costs. The scheme has now contracted over 30GW of new low-carbon capacity, including 20GW of offshore wind. The Government continuously reviews the scheme to ensure it remains fit-for-purpose as our electricity system evolves and we work towards our net zero ambitions. In 2022, the Government published a three-phase evaluation of the scheme, which found that the scheme was meeting its objectives. [1] [1]https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/evaluation-of-the-contracts-for-difference-scheme

Electricity Interconnectors: Scotland

Kenny MacAskill: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, pursuant to the Answer of 13 November 2023 to Question 506 on Electricity Interconnectors: Scotland, if he will publish the terms of that partnership.

Graham Stuart: The new UK-Germany energy and climate partnership text was published on GOV.UK on Friday 3 November 2023. It is easily accessible through the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero home page on GOV.UK.

Electricity Interconnectors: Scotland

Kenny MacAskill: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, pursuant to the Answer of 13 November 2023 to Question 506 on Electricity Interconnectors: Scotland, what further projects in (a) Scotland and (b) Scottish waters are under discussion.

Graham Stuart: The Department engages with developers on potential interconnection projects. Officials are aware of two further potential interconnection projects that are seeking to connect into Scotland, these are NorthConnect and LirIC.